Come Away With Me
by parrannnah
Summary: Bella is off for an exchange trip to London. As she meets new people, one man stands apart from the others. But Bella has someone waiting for her back home. With her heart divided, she must decide which way her path lies. AU/AH, OOC,canon pairs, lemons
1. Prologue: They Call It Stormy Monday

A/N: Aaaaaaah first story!

Ok, now that I have that out of my system, I'd like to thank anybody who's reading this : ) you guys are teh awesome sauce. Gracias also go out to Project Team Beta for having your lovely ladies take a look at this.

So….I don't own jack shit, except for an overactive imagination and waaaay too much time on my hands.

_**First Love**_

_A fist of red fire, a flower_

_Opening in the sun. A kind of peace_

_Taking over at last, and then the quick release._

_-Elizabeth Jennings_

"You have your tickets? Your passport? A toothbrush?" my mother questioned with a worried look on her face.

"Yes, Mamma. Don't worry, I have everything." I put my arms around her shoulders and hugged her fiercely. As I started to untangle myself, she squeezed tighter. Nothing I did had any effect on loosening her grip. I looked at my father over the top of her head, pleading with my eyes. He smiled and pried my mom away.

"C'mon, Renee, give the girl some air. She's just going to London, not Mars." He chuckled at what he thought was a very amusing joke. My mom, never one to put up with Charlie's bad jokes, swatted him on the arm, chastising all the way. "Charlie Swan, you take that back! My only child is going 5,000 miles away! I am allowed to be clingy, and nothing either of you say will get me to do otherwise." She huffed and turned away. I glanced at Charlie, only to see a bemused look on his face as he ambled towards her, hands in his pockets and looking suitably abashed. They might have been married twenty-two years, but they loved each other even more now than they had on their wedding day.

"What did Charlie do now?" a deep voice rumbled in my ear. I felt arms like steel bands wrap around my waist, and leaned into Jake's chest as he pulled me into him. As I took in his scent, all pine forest and male, I realized leaving Jake would be hardest of all.

"He made a joke about me only being in London, not Mars so that Mom would let go. She read him a stern lecture on why she can do exactly as she wants, thank you very much, and here we are." I turned in his embrace and looked him in the eye, my arms entwining around his neck. Jake had the most beautiful I eyes I had ever seen. They were such a dark brown that they looked black, except when you got close. When you got as close as you can, you could see the gold that flecks his iris. Set against his russet skin, obsidian silk hair and dashing smile, Jake is one handsome man.

And yet, here I was, doubting everything. Everything about my life felt different, for some reason. Maybe it was just the thought of a new adventure; maybe it was the idea of making new friends and experiencing something on my own, away from all immediate support. Maybe that was the reason that ever since I had gotten my acceptance letter to the exchange program at Seattle Pacific University, everything had started to itch. Not literally itch, of course, but just feel…uncomfortable. All of my classes, my routines, the school, and all of my relationships had felt like healing skin stretched tightly over a wound. There was nothing wrong with it, and yet I felt a slight tugging at the edges, as if something was trying to remove the fabric of my comfortable little life and shake things up. I wasn't sure if that bothered me or not.

"British Airways Flight 567 for London now boarding at Gate three. This is the first call for all passengers of British Airways flight number 567, now boarding at Gate three." The announcement seemed to echo around us, despite the noise of the crowded airport. I looked around, memorizing the faces of the people who were most important to me. My dad, his arm linked with my mom's, was looking at me with the look that meant he was seeing me as his little girl who'd used to dress up as a vampire instead of a ballerina, much to Renee's eternal shame. Charlie had always just laughed, and would run around with me after Mom saying "I vant to suck your blaahd!" until we'd all collapsed on the couch. Renee would giggle and say that as long as I was such a cute vampire, it wouldn't be such a loss that I wasn't a ballerina. Given my natural talent of tripping on flat surfaces, this was a good idea.

Renee opened and closed her mouth numerous times as she tried to come up with something to say that couldn't be construed as nagging. She nags when she's nervous. Strange habit, yes, but that's Renee. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, "I love you. Always and always."

"Forever and ever," I finished. I gave her a big hug, and one for Charlie, before they backed away, leaving Jake and me alone to say goodbye.

"Well, Bells..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say now that it was time. We looked at each other a moment longer before he spoke. "You know I want this for you, right? Even though I made a big deal about not seeing you for like six fucking months?" He looked down sheepishly. "Are you sure you can't come for Thanksgiving? I don't know if I can survive until Christmas." Jake gave me his best puppy dog eyes, but coming from his six-foot seven-inch frame, it looked a little ridiculous, which was the point, of course. I smiled, smoothing back the hair that had fallen onto his face. I took my time, mapping every inch of his face with my hands, making the best memory I could of him. Although we had said a very thorough goodbye the night before, I'd always known that leaving Jake would be the hardest.

"I don't know, Jakers. I'm gonna try, but it all depends on me getting a good job and a less shitty apartment. I want to. I hope I can." I paused slightly before throwing my arms around him and holding on tightly. His arms came around my waist and pulled me to him, my face tucked awkwardly into his chest as always, because he was just so fucking tall. "I'm going to miss you," I said, sniffing to keep the sudden wetness in my eyes where it was.

"Aw, Bella, hon, I'm gonna miss you so much," he said, holding me even tighter. He crushed me to him, but in the incredibly gentle way that only very big men seem to be capable of doing. I felt so breakable with Jacob sometimes. He was just so _huge_, and it was hugs like this that reminded you.

"Final call for all passengers flying with British Airways flight 567, now boarding at Gate 3. This is the final call for all passengers flying British Airways flight 567 to London."

I looked Jake right in the eyes, memorizing his every feature. I could tell by the way his eyes moved methodically over my face that he was doing the same. He finally leaned in until his nose was touching mine.

"I love you, Bella Swan," he breathed.

"I love you, Jacob Black," I whispered.

Our goodbye kiss was a simple one, his lips lingering gently on mine. There was no urgency, no frantic pace. We wouldn't see each other for at least six months, but his kiss bespoke of not wanting me to remember some overeager boy, frantic and frenzied like he'd used to be. He wanted me to remember the man he was now, the man he'd become, the man who would wait for me until the end of the world. The ultimate devotion. As he gently pulled away, he lingered, his forehead touching mine.

"Call me when you land. Go. I love you." He kissed me on the forehead and pushed me towards the gate. I called back to him over my shoulder, telling him I loved him one last time as I ran for the gate, stumbling slightly but managing to keep my balance. I felt detached, vaguely noting unimportant things: my Chucks were ratty, barely holding together. The lady to my left was reading a fashion magazine with the tagline: "Chanel's prodigy intern, A-" Her hand was covering the name, and I wondered who it was. The newsstand on my right had a car magazine on the front, a beautiful woman on the cover, the headline "All Hale! Ferrari's new golden girl." Rolling Stone was next to it, and one of the cover stories said something about "New Rock Royalty, Ed-" and my brain instantly went "Eddie Van Halen?" before I got hold of it again. The TVs in the lounge had someone named Dr. Jasper Whitlock on it, and I vaguely noted that he was much too young and attractive for the History Channel. I thought he was talking about the Civil War, because I was pretty damn sure he'd said the War of Northern Aggression. I felt my backpack straps slip a little father off my shoulders, and when I was focused on adjusting them, I ran straight into the check-in counter. As I gripped desperately at the counter, I finally came out of my daze enough to hand the woman my ticket and passport. She gave me a sympathetic look. Part of me wondered how many tearful goodbyes she had witnessed over the years, and how many she had been a part of. She handed me back my ticket, and I stumbled down the hall towards the plane. They welcomed me aboard, and I found my seat, realizing that saving for first class had been an excellent idea. Now I had all the room in the world to fall apart. I wouldn't bother anyone, and no one would bother me. I looked out the window, the tears silently streaming down my face. I tried to focus on the rain that had begun to splatter the runway, instead of the burning pain that had started in my chest. I stared the grey Seattle skies, instead of the old writing on the rubber toe of my Chucks: "J.B. + B.S." Jake had written it there during my sophomore year in high school, when he'd first let me know he was interested. It was faded and old, but it was a reminder of what I was leaving, and what I wasn't sure about coming home to. With Jake, he was so sure of what he wanted, and not to be egotistical or anything, but it all had mainly revolved around marrying me when we finished college. That sounded all well and good at seventeen, but looking at it from the ripe old age of twenty-one, I wasn't sure anymore. Jake was all I had ever known, and that used to be alright. But for some reason I just felt that there was something else out there for me. Something more than a small town in Washington, more than marrying my high school sweetheart. Just…more. I was planning on using the six months apart to do some soul searching, and to figure my shit out. I realized that I was crying again, and I hastily looked around for a distraction.

There was a sports magazine in the pocket in front of me, with a huge man on the front. The title read "McCarty--England's American Rugby Star." I reached for it, thinking that sports was certainly a good subject change, but there was suddenly a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around, trying to surreptitiously wipe my eyes. Standing in front of me was a small girl about my age, dressed impeccably in what looked to be very expensive clothing. Her short dark hair was styled just enough to look natural, and she had the most beautiful dove grey eyes.

She took in my puffy eyes and streaming nose with a quick glance before finally speaking.

"Hi! I'm Alice, Alice Cullen. It looks like we'll be sitting with each other."

A/N: So yes? You like? I hope so, cause I'm having lots of fun writing it : ) I have no idea how long it's going to be, but it will be as long as necessary for these crazy kids to do what they need to do, dig? Show me some sugar, friends, and hit that review button : )


	2. Chapter One: But Tuesday's Just As Bad

**Hello friendlies! Did everyone have a nice week? Yes? That's good. Ummm can I just say that I never got the hype about reviews (I do them, I just didn't get why they were so all-fired important) but I just wanted to let you guys know that I get it now! Thank you so much to the reviewers out there! You guys made me go into incessant giggling mode, so congrats.**

**Alright, I'm done. Here's what you want : )**

**I don't own anything here, except Bella's music collection.**

_I used to be the one you saw  
When crying alone to sad songs  
But then we go and we hit the wall  
When nothing has changed and nothing's wrong._

_--John Mayer_

"_Hi! I'm Alice, Alice Cullen. It looks like we'll be sitting with each other."_

She held out a tiny hand, and I shook it, realizing that she was much stronger than she looked. I sniffed, and introduced myself.

"Hi, I'm Bella Swan. Nice to meet you," I wheezed out. She sat down next to me, pulling her knees to her chest and squirming a little to get comfortable.

"So, Bella, what's taking you to London?" she asked smiling kindly. For some reason, I felt myself relaxing around this girl, who I now realized seemed to be bouncing slightly in her seat. It looked like she had downed a couple of energy drinks prior to boarding.

"School," I replied. "I'm an exchange student." As I said this, her eyes lit up, and I had a terrible feeling that I was in for some sort of explosion. I was mostly right.

"Bella!!!" she squealed. "Please tell me you're going to Kingston! That would just be too perfect for words! I'm going as well, to study fashion. Can we be friends, Bella? The only person in London I know is my cousin, and this way we won't be alone! I can see it now! Do you have an apartment? We should be roommates!!" She finally stopped for breath, and I tried to catch up with the sounds she had made, convinced that somewhere in there, there were actual words. I vaguely recalled the words _Kingston_, _fashion_, and r_oommates_. I answered slowly, trying to make sure I covered all the points.

"Yes, I'm going to Kingston. I'm a Business major, with an emphasis in Entrepreneuring, with a minor in music. Yes, I have an apartment, but it's cheap and crappy. I need to get a job before I upgrade. And yes, we can be friends."

And I swear to you, the only way to describe the sound that escaped her was "supersonic." She started clapping her hands and bouncing more forcefully in her seat.

"Oh, Bella!! You should live with me! I have a big apartment; well I guess we should call it a "flat" now, and no one to share it with! Please, please, please?" she pleaded desperately and then, all of a sudden, she pouted. I could not tell you why, but for some reason I couldn't even imagine saying no. It was like fucking magic. I had a bad feeling that I was going to come to hate that pout.

"Um, well, like I said, I don't have a job yet, and I only have so much saved up so…" I trailed off. Alice waved her hand in the air, dismissing my argument.

"Oh, Bella, my apartment is paid off for three months, and if I like, it my father will pay for it because he doesn't want me to live somewhere super shitty. So now I have a badass apartment and no one to share it with! Please say yes!!" She pouted again. God damn that pout.

"Well, if you insist Alice. I guess--" I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence because Alice suddenly had her arms wrapped around my neck. And with that, the tears were back. I don't know why my brain decided to compare Alice's hug to Jake's, but it did. I noted that her arms were much smaller, and her stature was even shorter than mine. She smelled like jasmine, whereas Jake was all pinewood forest and man. I tried to hold in my sob, but Alice noticed anyway.

"Oh, Bella, don't worry. That boy of yours, Jake, I think, he isn't worth your time. Cheer up! There's someone better out there." She smiled at me, trying to be reassuring, but I'm pretty sure I looked as if I'd just seen a ghost.

"Alice," I started, "pardon my language, but how the fuck did you know his name is Jake?" I kept my eyes focused on hers, determined to get an answer. She looked around sheepishly, a hint of pink in her cheeks. She opened her mouth a few times, trying to find the words and looking decidedly like a goldfish.

"Well, Bella, you see…I um, I get these feelings and…um...I don't know? Jake just seemed…right to me." She looked up at me, trying to gauge how freaked out I was. I wasn't afraid of shit like that in theory, but in practice? Holy fuck, I was a bit creeped out. I tried to breathe and just accepted this as part of Alice. It was kind of working.

"Okay, so…do you get these 'feelings' all the time? Because that might help if we want to win the lottery." I smiled at her, trying to convey that I didn't think she was a freak. I was rewarded by a slightly less shrill sound and another hug.

"Bella, I think I might love you!" Alice unwound her arms, and I rubbed my neck jokingly. She shoved me and giggled, and in that moment I decided that a friendship with this nice, albeit a little eccentric girl might be just what I needed. Sure, I had good friends back home, but I'd never had one that felt like…family. It was going to be a long six months, and the more support I had, the better.

We settled into our seats as the captain came on to announce we were almost ready for take-off. Alice reached over and squeezed my hand. I glanced at her, and she looked terrified.

"Alice," I whispered, "do you not like planes?"

She had her eyes closed, and I could see what little color she had to begin with was gone. I'm pretty sure there was even a thin film of sweat on her forehead, although to this day she maintains that I was on crack because she does _not_ sweat, and she looked sick.

"Bella, to be perfectly honest with you, planes can go fuck themselves." She sighed. Her lips moved slightly, and I wondered if she were praying. I reached my hand up to my neck, finding the small chain there and pulling it over my head. I looked at it, noticing how smooth the figure on the back had become from all of my frantic rubbing. I shook Alice's arm slightly.

"Hey," She looked at me warily, wondering why I was still talking after her rather concise opinion on planes.

"Yes?" she said between clenched teeth.

"I have something for you." I held out my right hand, and she slowly placed her left beneath it. She opened her hand, and I let the medal on its chain slide onto her palm. She looked at it strangely, clearly trying to figure out what it was.

"It's a St. Christopher medal, thes the patron saint of Travelers. I used to be terrified of flying, and so…Jake… bought me this years ago when we took a vacation to California. We stopped in a little beach town and picked it up at a surf shop. I wear it every time I travel, and nothing has ever happened. Here." I let go of her hand and slipped it over her head. She instantly reached for it, her thumb finding the figure of a surfer on the back, worn smooth over the years. She took a deep breath and smiled.

"Thank you," she breathed. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. For some reason, I feel better." She inhaled deeply and opened her eyes. "I knew we were meant to be friends!" And suddenly, her energy was back.

Over the next few hours, we talked about everything. I found out she was originally from Chicago but had gone to Seattle Pacific for college to "escape the God-awful heat" that was Chicago. She was like me and had no siblings, but she had a cousin she was very close to.

Her father's family was British, she said, and when he had moved to Chicago his younger brother Edward stayed behind. We visited each other often, and when he and his wife, Elizabeth, had died in a car accident her cousin Masen, who was only eleven, had come to live with them. A sadness had come over her for a moment, but she had quickly shaken off her gloom to continue her story. Her cousin had apparently booked it back to London first chance he could get and had been there ever since studying music. I was assured he was a wonderful musician, and that she had a "feeling" he was going to make it big soon.

Oh!" She yawned suddenly, stretching her arms above her head. "Jesus, I'm tired all of a sudden. What time is it?" She checked her watch, a pretty little thing that looked like a Rolex. "Oh my God! It's already 1:00 am! If you don't mind, Bella, I'm gonna try and snag some z's before we land. Good night!" With that, she rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

Our flight had left at 10pm, which meant that we wouldn't get to London until 6:00 am our time, which would be…3:00 pm there? I didn't know or particularly care. I pulled out my iPod and my giant Bose headphones, which had caused everyone I know to give me endless amounts of grief upon purchasing them. Apparently, only wanting to hear music in surround sound was a stupid reason to buy kickass headphones. Whatever.

I scrolled through my millions of artists before finding a playlist to listen to. Soon the dulcet sounds of _Another Kind of Green_ by the John Mayer Trio filled my ears.. The opening chords echoed through my head, the notes whirling in blues and greens behind my eyes. No matter how I was feeling, music always made me feel better. There was nothing that music couldn't fix. The vocals started, and the blues and greens suddenly received a dash of yellow, but a deep yellow, full of sorrow as well as happiness.

_And I don't need another kind of green to know, I'm on the right side with you…_

Well fuck. That was a bad choice. I hit skip, hoping for something that wouldn't remind me of how horribly confused I was. I closed my eyes and relaxed in my seat. I saw the gold of conviction with the yellow of sadness, and the bronze of regret. I let my mind wander with the guitar, following it up, chasing it down, living simply for the music--until I recognized the song. Damn. _Babe I'm Gonna Leave You_. Thanks, Led Zeppelin, for reminding me of my options. Much appreciated.

_Babe, baby, baby, I'm gonna leave you…_

The drums kicked in, and I jumped in my seat. What was up tonight? Why couldn't I find a song that wasn't about this whole "me-being-confused-as-shit" situation? God damn time alone. Always making you think. I went back to choosing a playlist. Scrolling, scrolling….ah! I found one that wouldn't possibly make me get all gloomy.

_Yo! I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want…_

Awww yeah, the Spice Girls. How can you feel bad when listening to something so…up beat? I danced around in my seat, lip synching along, and doing the stupid dance moves my friends and I had come up with at twelve. I was in the middle of my dance to the chorus of "Spice Up Your Life" when my music suddenly stopped. My eyes flew open, and I looked around to see who had interrupted my jams. Jake used to say I was like the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin when someone pulled my tunes, all "who disturbs my slumber?" and shit. Sadly, he wasn't joking. If there was one thing I didn't joke about, it was music.

Alice had apparently woken up and was busy doing something to my…oh my God, yes! She had a headphone splitter and was now joining me in my epic Spice Girls marathon. She looked at me with a smile and said "I call Posh Spice," to which I smiled and said "Cool. I'm so Scary Spice." Let's face it; Alice could never be anyone _but_ Posh Spice.

We continued our female bonding until my Spice stash was depleted, and then Alice did something no one was allowed to do. She grabbed my iPod _right out of my hands_ and started messing with it. Now, I will share music, but generally someone asks first. The only other person who ever did this was Jake, and it was one thing that seriously bugged me to death, mainly because he would put something on that I really couldn't stand and only had on there for him, and just keep going. Not, "can I put something on?" or "when this song is over, can we listen to…?" Nothing. He just changed it in the middle of a song. Sorry, are my pet peeves showing? Anyway, back to Alice. For some very strange reason, her iPod jacking didn't really bother me. Maybe it was because the song had been over, so we were changing anyway, or maybe it was because it was Alice.

"Ooooh! I love this!!" she squealed, clicking play. The drums picked up, sounding like an engine out of a muscle car as always. I looked over and saw Alice _air drumming._ No joke. The guitar started, and I figured I would Eddie Van Halen up our little ensemble. I played that air guitar like nobody's business. As it geared up to the vocal I looked at Alice to see who had the auspicious job of being David Lee Roth? As it turns out, Alice made an excellent David Lee Roth.

_T-T-teacher stop that screamin'. Teacher don't you see? Don't wanna be no uptown fool. Maybe I should go to hell. But I am doing well. Teacher needs to see me after school._

I lip-synched along with the bridge when it came on; _I think of all the education that I've missed. But then my homework was never quite like this!_ Alice brought it home with some mad drumming skills as I played my guitar, and she took over with the chorus; _Ow! Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad, I'm hot for teacher. I got it bad, so bad, I'm hot for teacher!_

As our song came to a close, I turned to Alice and nodded towards the row across the aisle, "Don't look now, but I think we have some fans." She turned to see the whole row staring at us. She just smiled and waved at them before turning back to me and laughing.

"They're just jealous of our awesome skills," she whispered loudly, making sure that our audience could hear her.

We spent the rest of the flight singing old rock songs, reliving the glory days with some old school boy bands, and rounding out our night with some whiny chick rock, courtesy of Alanis Morissette. By the time the sun was rising and we were preparing for our descent into Heathrow, Alice was my new favorite person.

"Alice, I think I love you. You have awesome musical sensibilities." I giggled, realizing that we were both a little worse for wear because of our long night. She looked at me, and did her rock star pose, which involved holding an invisible microphone in her left hand, throwing her right hand up into horns and banging her head.

"Rock on, bitch," she said, trying desperately to keep a straight face. A strangled giggle escaped my lips, and I saw her lips start to tremble a second before she cracked and burst out laughing. We laughed all the way off the plane, leaning on each other for support as we stumbled our way toward the exit. We were more than a little slap happy, and when the jet lag kicked in, it was only going to get worse. We made our way through the airport, walking to what we assumed to be baggage claim since everyone else from our flight was headed that direction; we hindered ourselves by spontaneously jumping into our rock star personas and air guitaring at each other. We got many strange looks from the nice people at the airport, but we honestly didn't care. We had actually spotted a sign that said "Baggage" with an arrow pointing left when a girl who must have been about sixteen came up to Alice.

"Excuse me," she said, "but are you Alice Cullen?" I looked at Alice, wondering why this nice little English girl knew her name. She gave me an embarrassed look before turning back to the girl.

"Yes, I'm Alice Cullen. What's your name?" she asked the girl, who started beaming the moment Alice confirmed her identity.

"Oh, I'm Bree. I was wondering if you would maybe…" she trailed off as she held up a magazine. I realized I had seen this magazine already, at the airport in Seattle, but the last time the headlines had been covered. I could clearly read it this time: "Chanel's prodigy intern, Alice Cullen." Alice took the magazine from the girl and signed the front, right under her name. I looked at Bree more closely, realizing she looked like a miniature version of Alice, before staring at Alice. _What the fuck? She's famous? How didn't I know this! I've just spent the last four hours air-guitaring with Chanel's prodigy, how weird is that?_ As they parted ways, Alice sighed.

"So I maybe sort of had a feature in a magazine but I'm not some crazy snob please still be my friend!!!" she blurted out all at once. I blinked once to process what Alice had just said.

"Dude, like some 'crazy snob' would spend the whole flight lip-synching the Spice Girls _and_ Van Halen. Just bring me some killer threads once in a while, okay?" I smiled, and she sighed in relief. She linked her arm through mine and we continued on our epic adventure to find our luggage. As soon as we arrived, Alice turned to me.

"Now Bella," she started, not a good sign at all, "you have to remember what I intend to do with my life before you judge me, okay?" She looked at me hopefully. I just nodded and gestured for her to continue towards the baggage carousel. That's when I saw them. Six _gigantic_ suitcases, all Coach, circled the carousel. And then I saw my luggage. I grabbed my two big duffel bags and backed away, realizing that Alice had started to stare at me like I had two heads. I looked around for a mirror to see if I had something on my face to make her look at me that way.

"Bella, where is the rest of your luggage? Oh no! I hope the airline didn't lose it! That would be so horrible!" I swear to you, I saw tears in her eyes as she thought about lost clothes. I gathered my strength for the tirade that was sure to happen as soon as I explained things to my new friend.

"Well, actually Alice, this _is_ my luggage. I don't have that many clothes to begin with, and my books are getting mailed over so…" I trailed off as I saw her jaw drop and all intelligent thought cease. No yelling, no gasps of horror or "Oh Bella!" like I had been expecting. She literally did not fucking move. She was like the Tin Man when he had no oil. Except apparently a lack of copious amounts of clothing was Alice's kryptonite. Oops.

"Do you…maybe want some help with yours? I'm assuming the Coach is yours…here I'll just…" I floundered, trying to make Alice breathe again. She was just staring off into the distance, eyes unfocused and jaw slack. I quickly dropped my bags and reached for the first suitcase as it passed me again, grabbing the handle and pulling. The suitcase lurched off the conveyor belt and crushed me under the weight of one very small woman's obsession. I managed to push it off me in time to grab the next one as it came around. I braced my feet and tried to avoid death by fashion.

By the time I had gotten crushed by every single one of Alice's suitcases, she still had yet to move. I walked slowly over to her, trying not to alarm her if she was still among the living. I waved my hand slowly in front of her face. "Alice," I called gently. "Aaaliiicee…."and finally, she breathed. She took a huge breath and then gave such a sigh that Scarlett O'Hara would have been jealous. She looked at me, a strange dreamy look on her face. I said nothing, trying to figure out if she was lulling me into a false sense of security before the attack or what.

"Oh Bella," she breathed, "isn't he beautiful?" I followed her gaze to see a tall, handsome man at the other end of the lobby, just standing by the doors. She was right, he was very handsome. He had broad shoulders and slim waist of a swimmer; he had those all-American good looks but judging by his clothes, there was just enough rebellion in him to save him from being Wally Cleaver. He had on what seemed to be a black t-shirt, a brown leather vest, a pair of jeans that made his ass look real nice, and the most loved boots I'd ever seen. They were brown leather, but they had been broken in and scuffed up by years of wear. That was good, because Alice had told me last night that while some shoes should remain in good shape, others should just be lived in. They were meant to be worn, and that means worn out. Hell, I'd had my Chucks for at least 6 years, and they were doing just fine, mostly.

The most awesome brown felt fedora I'd ever seen was perched on his head. It was in perfect shape, with a small burst of red, yellow and green feathers tucked into the band on the left side. I could see a few stray curls peeking out from under his hat, and they were exact color spun gold. It just made him go from "hot" to "smoking."

"Yes Alice, he's definitely beautiful," I conceded, because there was just no denying that fact. She glanced quickly at me, before looking at the ground shyly.

"I'm going to marry him, Bella. He doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to marry him." I just stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Um, excuse me, did you say you were going to _marry_ him? You haven't even talked to him!" I'd been with Jake for four years and I still wasn't sure I wanted to marry him, and she lays eyes on this man for five fucking seconds and she's going to marry him. But then I wondered if she was getting a "feeling" about it, and decided that was even weirder.

I expected some kind of reaction but Alice just kept smiling, probably imagining what was sure to be a lavish, beautiful wedding because I just didn't see Alice accepting anything else. She was still standing in the middle of the lobby, blocking people's paths with her gargantuan luggage collection and was still staring at the stranger. Suddenly, he turned and saw Alice. He stopped completely, his posture a mirror image of hers. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but what was in fact about five seconds. That's when I recognized him.

"Pssst! Alice! I know that guy! Well, I know his name. he was on the history channel in Seattle but that's beside-" Alice suddenly came back to life, and even though her hand reached out and grasped my wrist much harder than I thought was possible for such a tiny woman, she never took her eyes off the stranger.

"Bella," she said through clenched teeth, "if you know his name, would you please be so kind as to tell me?" She twisted my wrist a little, just for emphasis, and I spit it out quickly, hoping to avoid permanent damage.

"Jasper! His name is Dr. Jasper Whitlock! Please, Alice, for fuck's sake, could you please stop trying to remove my hand? It's not a fucking screw cap!" She released my wrist suddenly, and I attempted to rub circulation back into my hand. All of a sudden, there was a huge gasp from beside me. I cautiously looked at Alice and as I followed her gaze, and realized that super sexy Dr. Whitlock was coming her way. I also noticed that he had on a Led Zeppelin t shirt, faded beyond belief, and he got some more cool points.

"Alice," I said as I poked her in the ribs, "Alice, he's coming over here! Pay attention!" I poked her again, and she looked at me, clearly annoyed, until what I had said to her sunk in through the fog she seemed to be stuck in.

What?" she half whispered/ half shrieked in my ear. I looked pointedly at Dr. Hottie, who had a massive ass grin on his face, and back to Alice, who finally seemed to consciously realize he was almost upon us. She started to breathe rhythmically, clearly trying to calm herself before her "soul mate" arrived. He slowed slightly as he reached us and never took his eyes off of Alice. He stopped about three feet away and tipped his hat, a smile playing at his lips.

"Ma'am, I couldn't help but notice that you have an awful lot of bags there and I was wondering if I could lend you a hand." And by God if he didn't have the sexiest southern drawl I'd ever heard in my life. Smart, young, handsome, _and_ a gentleman? There had to be a catch. I looked him over, trying to decide the best course of action, but before I even opened my mouth Alice had spoken.

"Oh, how kind of you!" she said, suddenly sounding just like Donna Reed. "Bella isn't it kind of…oh! I have completely forgotten my manners! I haven't introduced myself. My name is Alice Cullen, and this is my friend, Bella Swan." She held out her hand and by God if that man didn't _lean down and kiss her hand_. How perfect could one man be? I held out my hand, and he shook it, nodding his head slightly.

"Did you say Alice _Cullen_? Are you by chance any relation to Edward Cullen?" He looked at her, probably searching for some resemblance to his friend. Alice's eyes lit up, and she looked positively ecstatic.

"You know Masen? How lovely!" she cried, and I saw the gears working in her head, clearly going where I had and figuring out that if he did indeed know her cousin, she was almost guaranteed to see more of him. I figured it was time for me to help to since it looked like they were going to stick with social niceties until they died.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think I caught your name?" I said innocently. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice glare daggers at me for interrupting what I'm sure was a very meaningful stare, but I just kept smiling at him sweetly.

"Oh, please excuse me," he said quickly. "Boy, my Mamma sure would have skinned me alive if she were here and saw me forget my manners like that. I'm sorry, but Alice here just seems to make me forget everything but her." There was a small squeak from Alice at this, but I just kept looking at Mr. Perfect. He looked at me finally, dragging his eyes away from Alice for a second. "My name is Jasper Whitlock. It's a pleasure to meet you."

A/N: Oh, Jasper.

Ok, so I think either Saturday or Monday I will post shit unless RL gets in the way, but my schedule's pretty set so I don't see any major complications coming from that direction.

**Rec's:** Ok, so this one is an RPF and I used to not really like those but this one changed my mind! It's by **AshLove** on Twilighted and **AshLove83** on FF. Its called Definitions of Love and its awwweeeesoomee. Trust me : )


	3. Chapter Two: I Will Roam

**Dahlings!**

**Did you guys get an email for this like five times? I'm sorry about that. I kept fucking up the upload and shit wasn't cooperating because technology fucking hates me with a fiery burning passion.**

**ANYWAY.**

**Big thank you to the lovelies over at Project Team Beta. They rock my fuckin socks off, as usual!**

**I own nothing except Technicolor Bella-vision.**

_Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good fortune,_

_Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,_

_Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,_

_Strong and content I travel the open road._

_-Walt Whitman_

_He looked at me finally, dragging his eyes away from Alice for a second. "My name is Jasper Whitlock. It's a pleasure to meet you."_

As it turned out, Jasper had a car. Not one that he drove himself (although he assured us that he did own one, and could drive), but a car to take him wherever he wanted, a _Rolls Royce_ to take him wherever he wanted, with facing back seats and everything. And right now, he wanted to take us home. He helped me haul the fashion pixie's luggage to the car and even laughed at my grumbled threats to "accidentally" burn it, contents and all.

"Now, Lady Bella, would you really burn Miss Alice's clothes?" He smiled mischievously at me, mostly because while Alice loved that he had called her "Miss Alice" since she introduced herself, Lady Bella had different ideas. I wasn't entirely sure why it bothered me so much, but the back of my brain supplied a theory: I wasn't at all used to being reminded continuously that I was female, and I was definitely not used to men thinking that because I was, in fact, female, I should be treated with all respect and courtesy. With Jake I was just "one of the guys" long before we got together. I fit with his pack of friends because they didn't treat me like a girl. I was used to not being seen as delicate and fragile. Breakable, yes, but with as many trips as I'd had to the emergency room, it's hard not acknowledge the breakable part.

The fact that Jasper was treating me like this within five minutes of meeting me was strange; I had been with Jake since I was seventeen, and he had never made me feel so…ladylike. I wanted to be seen as pretty and soft and womanly when Jasper called me Lady Bella. It felt like that's what I should be.

I glanced at Jasper and put on my best southern accent and said, "Mr. Jasper, why would I ever do that?" I pouted prettily and earned a hearty laugh from the man in question. He heaved the last of the suitcases into the trunk before facing me and responding.

"My, my, Lady Bella, you sounded just like my sister then. But to answer your question, I have no fucking clue. Does one tiny woman need so many clothes?" He looked over at the trunk, barely holding all of her luggage. Jasper's and mine were riding inside with us. We both looked at Alice, who was digging through her carry-on for something, then looked at each other and laughed. We were still chuckling quietly when Alice finally made her way over, her missing lipstick in hand. She looked at us slowly, trying to find out just what was so amusing.

"Care to share, guys?" she asked us, causing our laughter to intensify. She looked at Jasper and I knew we were in trouble. In the short time of our acquaintance I had discovered a vital fact: Jasper was incapable of saying no to Alice. The woman didn't even need to pull out the pout, and if she ever did, holy fuck was he screwed. He'd probably attempt to buy the moon or something if she pouted at him. Jasper walked over to Alice, and I saw her breathing pick up. I had never seen two people have such an intense reaction to each other. It was strange to say the least, and a little pang of jealousy flared within me. I squashed it down, telling myself it couldn't be like that for everyone. I was pulled back to reality when Jasper started to speak, and I knew we were in for it.

"Well, Miss Alice, Lady Bella here was uh…rather…unkind toward your luggage," he started. _Great, make me the bad guy. Way to go Benedict Arnold._ "I just merely questioned her sincerity and she answered in such a way that she sounded just like my sister that I had to laugh." He looked down slightly, and I knew he wouldn't keep his comment about her clothes to himself. Whatever - it was his funeral. "I might have also then asked if a…petite woman such as yourself needed that many clothes." We both looked at Alice, waiting for a reaction.

_3, 2, 1…_

Alice's eyes had lost their light and her jaw had tightened. Her hands curled into fists at her sides, and she did her rhythmic breathing again.

"Jasper," she said through clenched teeth, "I will tell you this once, and only once, so you had better remember. A woman can never have too many clothes. Capeche?" I couldn't help but think what an excellent mob boss Alice would have made. "Don Alice." It had a nice ring to it. Jasper, meanwhile, was trying to get out of trouble without accidentally digging this hole any deeper.

"Now, I didn't mean it like that. It was a…bonding moment for me and Lady Bella. We were just joking around, darlin', don't be mad." Fuck me, that accent of his was like get out of jail free card. I knew he'd won the moment he said "darlin'" in that drawl of his. Alice softened instantly and just giggled. _Giggled._

"Oh, well, if it was just a joke…" she trailed off as she linked her arm with Jasper's. They walked towards me and he gestured for Alice to precede him into the car. As Jasper waited, I gave him a worshipful bow.

"Teach me of your ways, O great Jasper, so that I too may escape the wrath of the Mighty Alice!" I cried in my best supplicant voice. He stood up a bit straighter and looked at me like I was six. He placed one hand on my head and one over his heart while saying, "Fear not, humble Bella, for it is a skill that can be learned in time. You are young, Grasshopper. And remember," he suddenly switched to an excellent sensei voice, "Wax on, wax off." And with that he followed Alice into the car.

The drive to the apartment was on its way to being uneventful and mainly consisted of me pretending to throw up when Jasper and Alice got too lovey dovey for my poor innocent sensibilities. They would just laugh and stop, for a little while. I ignored them and let them have their moments. That is, until I remembered my jewelry. I grabbed my backpack and started to dig around. This awoke the lovebirds in the corner and they watched in curiosity as I rooted around in my bag.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Alice questioned. I felt my hand touch what I was looking for, pulled it out with a rather loud "gotcha!" and put it on my lap. It was just a little red bag with a floral pattern on it, with a simple metal zipper, but over the years it had held anything and everything.

I looked at Alice and said, "Well Alice, I'm getting out my jewelry bag." I knew as I said it that Jasper was about experience the full Alice-squeal for himself. Right on cue she squeaked and clapped her hands, all while jumping over to sit next to me. I saw Jasper rub his temples and knew that he would think twice about blaming me in the future. _Mission accomplished_. I started to pick through the bag and saw Alice's look of confusion. She picked up the longest of the steel bars and looked at it before she looked at me.

"Bella? What kind of jewelry is this?" Instead of answering, I plucked the bar from her fingers, picked up two little red balls and threaded it through the upper part of my left ear and then straight across. I twisted the balls into place and turned back to Alice, a look of mild revulsion mixed with curiosity on her face. I grabbed the six plain studs next, two small two medium and two large, and put one of each in both earlobes. I looked back at Alice to see her holding the two little blue hoops, clearly trying to figure out where they went. I took them from her and she watched in confusion as I placed them next to each other on the left side of my lower lip. Next I grabbed the little black bar with the ball on top and lifted my shirt slightly, enough so I could put the bar through my bellybutton. I cleaned up the other bits of steel and put them back, all the while aware of the silence radiating loudly from the girl next to me. I finally looked at her and smiled.

"So, Alice," I said, "still want to be my friend?"

It was Jasper who responded first, oddly enough. He put his hand on Alice's shoulder and said simply, "That's quite the collection you've got there, fair Bella. How many do you have exactly?" I did a mental count just to make sure of the number before answering.

"Well Mr. Jasper, I have twelve piercings in all. And four tattoos." I looked at Alice, who seemed to be over the revulsion she had suffered earlier, and saw that she was studying me curiously. I wasn't sure what was promoting the scrutiny at first, but then I realized what she was doing, and what she was going to ask. I sighed, and prepared to let my new friends know all sorts of things about me.

"Bella," she said slowly, "I only saw you put in ten. Where are the other two?" She looked over me slowly, obviously trying to figure out where the other two went. She was a smart cookie, and I knew she'd get there eventually. I heard a choked breath from Jasper and knew that he had figured it out. Alice looked at him, but he just held up his hands, silently saying he wasn't going to tell her. She went back to studying me and after a few moments I saw understanding dawn in her eyes. She looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Bella Swan, do you have your nipples pierced?"

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" I cried, surprising the hell out of Alice with my lack of embarrassment. I used to get embarrassed about everything, but I had gotten over that when I started college. Turns out no one gives a fuck how weird you are; they're all just as weird. I pulled the Ziploc bag with little black circles with the bars through them out of my pocket and waved it in front of her. She flinched, and then giggled. "See, I was being courteous and not flashing Mr. Hotness over there," I gestured to Jasper, who was trying to control his laughter at being called _Mr. Hotness_, "because I'm sure that would have resulted in you ripping the steel out of my body one bit at a time. I was hoping no one would ask how many I had, because I hate lying and knew I would have to answer." I gave Jasper the "it's entirely your fault" look. He just smiled back unashamedly, tipping his hat in a "you're welcome" gesture. I gave him the finger, which only caused him to laugh harder.

Alice looked at me like I was a new toy, but one that she didn't have the instructions to. I wasn't entirely sure I liked that look. She pursed her lips slightly, concentration written in the little wrinkles in her forehead. Finally she looked me in the eyes, her focus drifting to the viperbite in my lip for a second before returning to my eyes and speaking. "Bella," she started, "I have a question for you." She looked at me for permission and I gave it with a wave of my hand. "Have you ever done any modeling?" The look of triumph on her face because I was currently speechless wasn't something I wanted to have there ever again. It was entirely too evil dictator for my liking. I saw gears turning in her head and I wished they would stop because I knew that wherever those thoughts were going was a bad place for me to be.

"Now, Alice," I began, "what makes you think _I_ ever modeled? I look nothing like a model even without the piercings. I have five different colors in my hair for Christ's sake!" Her eyes lit up at this, and I wondered why my inability to leave my hair color alone was exciting for her.

"Really?" she asked. "Where?" I pulled the elastic band out of my hair and let it fall out of the messy bun I had thrown it into this morning, exposing the red, purple, orange, black and pink streaks that ran through my hair. They were harder to see when my hair was all up, and Jake had hated them, so I wore my hair up a lot. I loved them, and would change things up by having more of one color than the others, or doing more than one, or different shades of one, but I had never died all my hair at once. It stayed the regular boring brown, but was made more appealing by my love of modification. She leaned in, inspecting my hair like she was looking for buried treasure or something. She put different streaks next to each other, piled it all on top of my head, and moved things around until finally, she spoke. "Those," she said, "are even better than the piercings." I was terrified.

"Alice," I said slowly, keeping my breathing even, "why are they better? What are they better for?" I looked at her, pleading with my eyes to break her torturous silence and explain my fate. She just smiled that villainous smile of hers and kept playing with my hair. "Alice," I begged, "what's up? Tell me, please, I'm going insane." And then she broke her silence.

"You have given me inspiration," she said whilst inspecting my industrial. "I have been trying to come up with a new line of clothes and have been blocked for months. You, with your piercings and crazy hair and tattoos - and I will need to see those tattoos at some point - have suddenly become my muse. And I want you to be the face of the line," she said in a tone that brooked no argument. I just stared at her, my jaw hanging wide open. I vaguely realized that Jasper was in the corner laughing his little southern ass off, but most of my attention was still on Alice and her proclamation. Modeling? Seriously? I mean, I guess I was kind of pretty if I tried for it, but I had too much metal and ink in me to ever be traditionally pretty, and I had long ago accepted the fact that I would never be beautiful.

"Bella, come back. Bella." I heard Alice calling me and met her eyes. She was smiling kindly at me, seeming to realize that she had just rocked my world. I looked down at the seat, staring at the stitching in the leather and trying to gather my thoughts. She was seriously saying that I was her fashion muse; me, who wore t-shirts, tank tops and jeans every single day. I was the most fashion-wary person on the planet. But then, a line from the only poem I remember from AP English junior year popped into my head: "_Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, Strong and content I travel the open road."_ With that simple line, all of my goals for this year came flooding back. I wouldn't be the wallflower who didn't go anywhere, who was always studying, who held back because she wanted the approval of certain people. I would be strong and determined and I would try all sorts of new things, damnit. I wasn't going to let timid little Isabella come out and ruin this. I would be Bella, and I would be awesome.

I jerked my head up, surprising Alice with the severity of my movement. She saw the determination in my eyes, I'm sure, but I wanted to say it out loud anyway.

"Alright, Alice. You've got yourself a model."

We finally reached the building our apartment was in, and I was starting to think that Alice's description of it being "badass" might be way more accurate than I thought. This place was in a much better neighborhood than my old one, and the building was fucking massive. I looked up, and up, and up and saw the gloomy London skies staring back at me. It looked a lot like home. Jasper got out of the car and stared at the building in disbelief while Alice directed the doorman in divesting the Rolls of its baggage, or more accurately, her baggage. Jasper still hadn't said anything, so I poked him in the arm.

"Hey, J, what's up?" I asked. I couldn't have told you why I'd used a nickname so quickly, but it probably had something to do with the fact that he, like Alice, felt like someone I had known my whole life - kind of like family. He looked at me like he'd not only seen a ghost, but it had been the ghost of his dead dog or something so he looked freaked as shit but excited at the same time. He looked back at the building briefly before answering.

"Well, fair Bella, I am just a bit dumbfounded to find out that you're taking up residence in my building." Wait, hold the fucking phone, did he say _his_ building? Alice was gonna shit bricks when she heard this. I turned to see if she had noticed, but she was still giving the poor doorman a heart attack with her incessant directions on how not to royally fuck up her luggage. Man, she sure was bossy for such a small thing. I looked back at Jasper to see that excitement was definitely winning out over scared. He looked like he'd won the lottery or something, the giant grin again plastered to his face.

"For serious, you live here? What a small world." I smiled at him, happy to have another friend in my life. Then I realized something. "Wait, J, how did you not know we were coming here?" I couldn't understand how the man could be so oblivious as to not know where his own car was going.

"Well, see Alice had given Henry, my driver, the address before I got in so I never heard where we were going and the ride over was…distracting, to say the least." He winked at me then, alluding to the whole piercing/modeling thing, and the fact that Alice had been in the car, which meant he noticed nothing else. How had he gotten so wrapped up in her so quickly? I had never in my life seen something that I would actually qualify as "love at first sight" until this afternoon in the airport. Alice and Jasper were just…right. That jealousy flared up again, and I quickly stamped it out. I would not be jealous of my friends, not for whatever it was they had. I told myself again that it didn't work like that for everyone, but it seemed less reassuring this time. I mentally shook off the funk I had been going towards just as Alice finished harassing our poor doorman. I reminded myself to give him a huge tip later.

"So…um, thank you for the ride, Jasper." She looked at the ground, clearly not ready to say goodbye. Little did she know…

"Well, Miss Alice, I have some interesting news for you. Hopefully it will be good news as well," he said, looking at his shoes just like Alice. She looked up, hope written all over her face, her eyes shining with it. Jasper took a deep breath and looked up, meeting her eyes. And he didn't say anything. Alice didn't say anything. I looked back and forth between them for a few seconds before coming to the conclusion that if I didn't break up the love fest we'd be standing on the sidewalk all day. I cleared my throat, making both of them jump a little.

"What Jasper was trying to say…," I said before he jumped in.

"…Is that this uh, also happens to be _my_ building." He peeked at Alice through his lashes, and I had to concentrate on not laughing because it was so terribly cute. I looked at Alice and though she was just going to spontaneously combust from sheer excitement. She was quivering slightly, like a violin string that had be strung much too tight. She did her little clapping thing, which seemed to be the indicator of her excitement level. It only came out when she was really happy. I saw her start to move towards Jasper, but then stop herself, clearly unsure as to what the physical limitations of their strange relationship were.

Finally she said, "Oh, Jasper that's awesome!" and she lost the battle not to touch him. She covered the distance in a few graceful leaps and threw her arms around his neck.

At first Jasper seemed shocked but he recovered quickly and wrapped his arms around her waist. I turned back to the street to give them a few moments privacy because seriously, even their _hug_ was mushy gushy. And that's when I saw him.

Walking out of a building across the street was the most beautiful man on the face of the earth. He was even taller than Jasper, and had a shock of wild bronze – like, truly bronze - hair framing the most perfect face God had ever created. He was all clean, hard lines and perfect proportions with a knife-blade nose, strong check bones and the most chiseled jaw ever to grace a man's face. The only soft thing about him was his mouth. It was the perfect shape, the perfect color, just everything about it was perfect.

I wanted to run across the street, throw him against the wall and have my way with him from now until forever. The energy that suddenly coursed through my veins felt like I had chain-smoked a whole pack of cigarettes. I was getting lightheaded because I had forgotten to breathe. I sucked in a huge breath, and watched him until he got into the waiting car. I just stood on the sidewalk staring into space, imagining all the things I would have liked to do with that man.

The Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" seemed to have been put on repeat in my head, the reds and oranges that accompanied it combining to match the color of his hair, and all I could hear was the chorus - _I wanna fuck you like an animal._ Oh yeah, that would do just fine.

_I was drizzling chocolate syrup down his chest, zigzagging it back and forth to give myself more to lick off later. I continued down his stomach, dripping chocolate down the little rivulet between his abs, watching it run towards his-_

"Bella!" I was brought out of my fantasy by Alice's voice. I turned to look at her, noticing not only was she watching me like I had gone crazy (which I might have), but she was also clutching Jasper's hand tightly, and the man was still grinning like an idiot. She smiled broadly at me. "Are you ready to see your new home?"

**So. Jaw Man.**

**Yummy.**

**So this week:**

**REC: Clipped Wings and Inked Armor by hunterhunting. Seriously, if you haven't read this you are missing out! My favorite ever! **

**And now, a note to the lurkers.**

**Dearest, Darling Lurkers of my heart,**

**I know it's scary, the thought of leaving a review, but it's not nearly as frightening as you think! I too was once a member of your ranks, reading and leaving. But I have stepped into the light, my friends, and it is wonderful.**

**I encourage you to review! Don't feel pressured though. Seriously, I'm not into that forced shit.**

**Love,**

Parrannnah


	4. Interlude: Five Colours

**I own nothing but his stereo-vision.**

_Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?_

_And what has he been after, that they groan and shake their fists?_

_And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?_

_Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair._

_-A.E. Housman_

EPOV

Fuck, I was running late again.

I threw back the covers and jumped out of bed, dashing haphazardly into the bathroom. I turned that tap all the way to hot and grabbed a towel while I waited for it to heat up. I looked at the clock. Jesus fuck I was running really late. I had to be downstairs at the car in fifteen minutes. Why hadn't my alarm clock gone off? Goddamn technology. I jumped in the shower, yelping slightly when the water was too hot. I washed my hair in record time, scrubbed all over and got out. Ten minutes.

I ran into my room, thinking quickly bout what to wear. I finally settled on a green Henley, some dark Levi's and my black Vans before running back to the bathroom. Should I shave? Or would that take too much time. Seven minutes. I decided to forgo shaving, telling myself that that whole scruffy look was in and not believing it for a minute, and grabbed the toothpaste out of the cupboard. I loaded my toothbrush and started frantically scrubbing. Even though I was running late, I took the whole two minutes to brush and the extra thirty-seconds to mouthwash. I'm obsessed with my oral hygiene, all right? So sue me.

I ran back to my room, grabbing my overnight bag which I had amazingly packed the night before. I picked up my mobile, my iPod and my chargers before snatching my keys off the hall table on my way out the door. Five minutes. I locked the door behind me, threw my bag over my shoulder and sprinted for the lifts. I jammed the button, knowing that hitting it eighty times in a row wouldn't do shit to make them go faster and doing it anyway. Deciding that running balls out down six flights of stairs would be my best option to meet the car on time, I hauled ass to the end of the hallway and threw open the stairwell door. I almost died twice, but managed to get to the bottom in one piece. I waved frantically at the doorman as I passed him, and he just laughed, having seen me do this every day for the past two years. I loved to be on time, but I was notorious for barely making it. I walked through the front door of my building, a nice place in Mayfair, not too far from SoHo so I could get my "struggling, bohemian musician" fantasies out when they came calling and not too far from Kingston, where I had been going to school until I graduated last fall, and saw the black town car waiting at the curb. A man in a black suit and tie stepped forward.

"Mr. Cullen?" he said, looking at me in apprehension since I had just burst through the doors gasping for breath. I straightened up and tried to slow my breathing.

"Yes, that's me. Sorry I'm late," I answered, hoping he wasn't mad. I was of the firm belief that you should never annoy the people doing you a service, paid or not. They could seriously fuck shit up.

"Not a problem, sir," he said, looking amused. "Mr. Volterra isn't expecting you at the airport for another hour, yet. He made provisions for your...erm…" he trailed off, clearly not wanting to offend.

"For my inability to be anywhere on time?" I said, smiling at him to show there was no hard feelings. "Smart man, Mr. Volterra. Smart, indeed." He walked over to take my bag, and as he went to put it in the boot I pulled my smokes from my pocket. I flipped open the pack and shook one above the others, bringing the pack close so I could put it between my lips and pull it out. I flicked open my Zippo and lit the end, letting the butane filled smoke out of my mouth before actually taking a drag. Ah, sweet nicotine. Now all I needed was some…

All rational though ceased as I looked across the street. Standing under the awning of the building across the street was the most…dazzling women I had ever seen. Her long mahogany hair fell in soft waves down her back, hints of red, orange and purple peeking out amongst the brown, leading my eyes down her body, appreciating the soft, full curve of breast and hip in comparison to her slim waist. Her legs were long and slender, encased lovingly in what must be her favorite jeans because they were covered in what seemed to be paint, grease and what looked suspiciously like ash. As I moved my gaze back up her body I let it linger on the graceful line of her throat, loving the porcelain look of her skin. Her lips were beautiful; the lower a little fuller than the upper, and it was pierced by two small hoops on one side. Jesus, I loved piercings. Her eyes were hidden by pitch-black sunglasses, keeping me from her soul. I could see her music, though; I could see the soft sigh of longing in her posture echoed in the violins that surrounded her; I could see the pain she carried on her shoulders in the weeping of the blues guitar that caressed her; I could see the laughter in the corners of her mouth in the flute that swirled around her; I could see the sexuality that flowed from her in the piano that encompassed her. Her music was beautiful, for all its mismatching. It was unique, just like the woman in sunglasses, hiding her eyes from the world.

The driver was opening the door for me, and I walked slowly forward, burning the woman into my mind. I ducked down as I got in the car, finding my seat quickly and looking at the woman through the tinted window. She stood with an air of confidence that was both slightly intimidating and undeniably erotic. I felt…complete, looking at her. Every care I had was taken from me, replaced by a feeling of rightness and comfort. I felt fire in my veins, I felt like I wanted to just get lost with her, somewhere far away from London and all its people. I wanted to spend every minute of every day worshipping this goddess, proving with my words and my body just how much devotion I felt. I wanted to feel her slender legs wrapped around my waist; I wanted to run my fingers along the silky skin of her waist; I wanted to be connected to her in every way possible.

The car started and pulled away, and I watched the woman until I rounded the corner and lost her from sight. She turned her back on me at the last second, flashing more metal in the delicate, translucent skin of her ears. Her hair hung to her waist, and I could see the colours that decorated it better now, the five hues highlighting the brown falling in long tendrils down her back. I could feel it sliding along my chest, could feel her small hands braced on my shoulders, my hands guiding her hips as they moved back and forth, stoking the fire that was burning inside me. She was everything I had ever desired, and I didn't even know her name.

I settled back in my seat, preparing to dream of the girl with a lip ring and five colours in her hair.

**Review!**


	5. Chapter Three: Lost But Never Alone

**Dahlings!**

**I hope everyone like the surprise I posted : ) Thanks to everyone who added me to their favorite and alerts recently! It makes me happy to see those in my inbox. If AshLove sent you from Twitter, hello! I'm her beta, and she's the shit.**

**Enough of me and my ramblings.**

**I own nothing except Bella's taste in smokes.**

_Where'd the days go when all we did was play_

_And the stress that we were under wasn't stress at all_

_Just a run and a jump into a harmless fall._

_­-Paolo Nutini_

_She smiled broadly at me, "Are you ready to see your new home?"_

The ride up the elevator was blissfully uneventful, and when Jasper got off on the third floor, he promised to stop by later with food and some other people he wanted us to meet. Alice just nodded and smiled, and I stood in the corner fantasizing about Jaw Man, for lack of a better thing to call him. I hadn't heard him speak, I hadn't even seen him smile, but I couldn't keep my thoughts away from that brief glimpse of perfection.

When we arrived on our floor, which happened to be the 14th floor, Alice got out and started walking briskly (the doorman was bringing her luggage up, otherwise we wouldn't have been moving at all) down the hall. I followed suit, noticing that there were only four doors in the hallway. I had been too distracted earlier to notice it when Jasper left, but that seemed strange to me. I mean, it was a huge building so there clearly should have been more apartments, right? It seemed logical. That is, until I saw our apartment. I heard a cry from Alice as she located our door, right at the end of the hall. As she turned the key and pushed open our front door, all rational though went out the window. The flat I walked into was _huge._ It took up a fourth of the floor for God's sake. I looked around, shell shocked into silence before I noticed the windows. The whole back wall of our living room was floor to ceiling windows, and we had the most amazing view of the city. I could see St. Paul's Cathedral, mostly, and I could sort of make out the older part of the city across the river. I turned to see Alice, just as transfixed as I was. However, there was something that needed to be done.

I slowly strolled around our massive living room and into a huge kitchen. That was good, because I liked to cook and didn't want to be ordering takeout constantly. Off the kitchen was the hall and I saw five doors along it. The first proved to be a bathroom, although it was probably bigger than my room back in Forks, and it was most definitely bigger than any dorm room I'd ever been in. It was all black marble with a HUGE bathtub, like huge as in more of a straight jacuzzi than a jacuzzi tub. It had a long counter with one sink and a mirror that ran the length of the counter. I closed the door, and continued to the next one, wondering what was in store now that I had seen what they considered a bathroom. The next door was a bedroom with white walls and wood floor. It looked just like my room back home, and that was reason enough to move on. The third door proved to be the hall closet and therefore not what I wanted. The fourth door, however, was exactly what I was searching for.

I had reached the second bedroom. It was…enormous. Gigantic. Humongous. It had pale green walls and dark brown wood floors. It was on an outside wall and had floor to ceiling windows just like the living room. But the best part by far was the bookshelves. The wall farthest from the widows was floor to ceiling bookshelves. I noticed two doors on another wall and decided to explore some more. The first one was to a huge walk-in closet, and the second led to an en-suite bathroom, all white marble and gold accents. The tub here was even bigger than the one in the hall bathroom and the shower, oh my God, the fucking shower. The shower was amazing. It had one of those rain showerheads that's just the fucking coolest thing on the planet, and it had to be the size of the bathroom we had back in Forks. I got closer, so as to inspect it better, and I noticed another control on the wall. It was digital, with two sets of arrow buttons, one labeled "Heat" and the other "Steam." Being the curious person that I was, I pushed the 'up' button on 'Steam', and I instantly heard a whooshing/hissing noise. I watched in wonder as the shower _turned_ _into a fucking sauna_. Yeah, a sauna. As I got over just how awesome a sauna shower was, I noticed the bench. This bench ran three walls of the shower, with the fourth open for the door. My brain instantly put Jaw Man in there doing very, very dirty things to me before I shut it down. There was no point in fantasizing about him, even though I bet those lips could do wicked things to my lady business, because I would most likely never see him again. Oh, and Jake, of course.

_Fuck, man. That's so messed up, remembering him as an afterthought. You're a horrible person._

"Fuck off," I muttered to myself, giving my inner voice a swift kick in the ass. What killed me was that it was right, as per usual. I had been fantasizing about another man, and the fact that my deterrent from doing so again was because I would never see said man again and _not_ because I was loyal to my boyfriend was just plain fucked.

In all honesty, the fantasy bit shouldn't have even happened, but let's face it - I had been in a steady relationship for the last four years, where going without for even a week was unheard of, and I was looking at six months of voluntary celibacy. I had friends who only had sex once every two weeks. I think the one time Jake and I decided to see how long we could go without we lasted four days. I had started drifting into memories of the afternoon we had finally cracked, when Jake morphed into Jaw Man. Why did he keep fucking with my train of thought?! Fucking shit, this was going to be a long six months.

I dragged myself out of the bathroom, intending to give it to Alice. She was obviously going to be jumping Jasper's bones as soon as she could without being qualified as a skank, so why shouldn't she have the fuckawesome sex shower? I had just opened the door to go find her when I ran into her as I walked out of the room. I grabbed her arms in an attempt to foil the klutzy gene, but, alas, the fucker won out. We went tumbling to the floor, landing in a twisted heap in the middle of the hall. I attempted to untangle myself, and to apologize for knocking her down.

"Alice, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" I cried, wondering how my shoelaces had gotten caught on Alice's hands. "See, the thing is, I'm not actually fucking capable of standing upright for more than five fucking seconds before the universe decides that it's been long enough and knocks me over again. Shit!" Just as I had successfully gotten untangled and stood up, I tripped. On nothing. "See?" I said, gesturing at myself to prove my point. I looked at Alice with the intent of apologizing again when I saw her turning purple.

"Alice?" I questioned, and she burst out laughing. Ah, that explains the purple. She laughed enthusiastically, clutching her sides and wiping tears from her eyes. The more she laughed, the more I wanted to laugh and before I knew it we were both rolling on the floor laughing our asses off. I wasn't even sure why it was so funny, but laughing felt good, especially after the thoughts I'd had in the bathroom while looking at the super sex shower and thinking about-

"No!" I sat up suddenly, trying to turn off my incredibly over-active imagination, which had just supplied me with the most glorious image of Jaw Man pinning me to the wall of the shower, hooking one of my legs over his hip before he--I shook my head, rolling to my feet and walking down the hall to the kitchen. I strode to the sink, meaning to get a glass of water before I remembered we had no dishes. I stood there for a few seconds, staring dumbly at the cabinet like it would manifest a glass as long as I kept looking, when I heard a small sound behind me. I turned and saw Alice standing by the breakfast bar, watching me watch the cupboard.

"Bella?" she asked, walking over to stand next to me. "Are you okay? You ran off all of a sudden." She looked concerned but not in that oh-my-God-my-new-roommate-is-crazy way, which was good. I sighed and tried to answer her question.

"Yes. I'm fine." I paused, thinking. "Ok, maybe not fine per se, but I'm alright." She just looked at me, waiting for me to make up my mind. _Yeah, you and me both._ Finally, I sighed. I needed to explain this to someone because I didn't understand it, and maybe they would. And it was Alice and she felt like, well like family.

"Oh, Alice," I said as I put my face in my hands. I felt her rubbing circles on my back and realized I was crying again. _Why the fuck do I keep doing that on accident?_ I looked at her, and everything started tumbling out.

"Ok, so you know I have a boyfriend, right?" She nodded, signaling me to continue. "Well, I've known Jake my whole life. His dad and my dad are best friends and have been since I can remember. When we were little, we were inseparable. I was at his house, he was at mine, we were running around in the woods, you know just being kids. Well, when I started school the year before him, I went to Forks Elementary. The next year, Jake went to the Elementary school on the Quileute Reservation where he lives, and we drifted apart. We saw each other on holidays and in the summer, but it just wasn't the same, you know? We were growing up, and growing apart."

Alice murmured sympathetically, but I couldn't understand what she said. I was lost in the memories now, reliving my past with the 20/20 vision that is hindsight. I saw the little things I had missed that meant more than I thought, I saw the things that were big at the time but seemed diminished so many years down the line. I took a breath and continued with my story.

"We reconnected when my best friend Angela moved away. I met her the first day of kindergarten and we had been best friends ever since. I was thirteen, and I needed a friend. I've never been the type of person that has countless friends. I had a few close friends, and that has always been better than having fifty friends you kind of know. Well, we went down to the Res one day so my dad Charlie and Jake's dad Billy could go fishing. I spent the whole day learning how to hold a flashlight correctly while Jake worked on his car. Yes, he was twelve, but he didn't have a lot of money so he figured he'd better start as soon as possible." I smiled, remembering gangly Jake and his eagerness to be my friend.

"Jake and I talked about everything. It was like no time had passed since we were little. Everything was just right." I chuckled, remembering the time Jake had tried to teach me to fix a car and I had ended up in the emergency room with a broken arm because I tripped over a wrench I had just dropped. Jake had been so mad at me because I had dropped his brand new tool until he realized I was hurt, and then he called Charlie and went with me to the hospital. He was so worried about me in the garage after that he would only ever let me hold a flashlight from then on. I sighed and got back to my story.

"The summer I turned 14, I met the "Wolf Pack," as they liked to call themselves. The boys thought they were so clever, coming up with a name for their little group. It was Jake, his two best friends Embry and Quil, Paul, who ended up dating Jake's older sister Rachel, Jared, and Sam. They did everything together. I kind of became an honorary member that summer because I managed to scare the shit out of Paul. Now, Paul has always had a short fuse, but this was the summer he was trying to get Rachel to go out with him. She wouldn't have any of it. I was teasing him, telling him that he should just give up because she was so out of his league, and we were all laughing and joking and generally being stupid teenagers, but Paul snapped. He went ballistic, and went running after me, chasing me down First Beach until I reached the cliffs. I started to climb, checking over my shoulder to see if Paul had caught up with me. Everyone asked me after if I was scared, but I never thought he would actually hurt me. He just needed to expend some energy, and I happened to give him an excuse.

"Well, I finally reached the top and was stuck. I could hear him coming up the cliff face, and I was looking around, trying to find somewhere to hide, when I remembered that the boys used this outcropping for cliff diving. I had always wanted to go, but had never been allowed because I was deemed way too damn breakable. This was my opportunity, and I took it. I ran towards the edge of the cliff and I jumped." I grinned, remembering the feeling of weightlessness, the absolute freedom I had felt as I jumped.

"Jake told me later that that was the day he realized he didn't just want to be my friend anymore. He said that when he saw me jump, it nearly killed him. Paul jumped right after me, and when my unfailing ability to get into dangerous situations got me pulled into a rip current, Paul pulled me out. Jake silently gave his blessing for Paul to date Rachel then, and he spent the next three years trying to get me to go out with him. As you can see, I said yes." I smiled at Alice, who was watching me with worried eyes.

"But, Bella, what does that have to do with you running away like that?" She looked at me curiously, clearly wondering if this story had a point or if I was just really crazy.

"Ok, here's where it ties in," I said. "When Jake and I got together, our dads were thrilled, to say the least. They kept talking about how we would really be family now, eventually. It was always kind of a given that this was it for us. I never felt better than I did with Jake, and we just fit together. I always thought I would marry Jake, but about a year ago I started to question my decisions. I'm so young, I thought. How can I know that this is the one and only person for me? How do I know? I didn't. Little things started to annoy me for no reason. He always treats me like one of the guys unless we're off alone together. I never feel like a girl with Jake. He never wants to go out, and I do. He likes completely different types of music. The thing that drives me crazy the most? He is the King of guilt trips. Any time he wants something and I say no, he pouts or makes me feel guilty. I feel like strangling him sometimes!

"I thought it was a phase. You know, just something that was a result of being together for so long, but the more I think about it, the more I'm not sure. But part of me is so scared of leaving because he's all I've ever known, you know? And what if this is it for me? What if Jake's the one and I'm just being dumb? What if I screw everything up because I was bored? I'm killing myself with the what-if's, Alice. And my best friend is the one person I can't talk to about this."

I slumped over onto Alice's shoulder, silent tears streaming down my face. I had finally said it out loud. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be with Jake the same way he wanted to be with me. I was so confused I didn't know what to do with myself. Then I remembered the story wasn't quite finished.

"And then, while you and Jasper were attached to each other when we first got here, I saw the most beautiful man in the world, and I wanted him to do very bad things to me. I was looking at the shower in the bedroom I was in and I started imagining Jaw Man doing terrible things with his beautiful mouth, and then it happened again when we fell over in the hall, and that's why I bolted. I didn't mean to worry you Alice." I patted her arm while she continued to rub circles on my back. Then she stopped.

"Wait, Bella," she straightened me up so she could see me better, "did you call him _Jaw Man_?" I felt the heat flood my cheeks and knew I looked like a tomato. Stupid blush, always giving me away.

"Um, maybe? His jaw was just so delectable, Alice. Actually, what I saw of him was damn near perfect. In layman's terms, I'd like to fuck him into oblivion, and then do it again. Mmmmmmm…" I trailed off, staring over Alice's shoulder as I replayed my brief glimpse of Jaw Man, and wondering why I couldn't get him out of my head. It wasn't like I hadn't seen attractive men before, but Jesus God that man was perfection itself. Alice's fingers snapped in front of my face, bringing me back to reality.

"Ok, Bella, here's what we're going to do. We are going to pick rooms, unpack, and then have dinner with Jasper and his friends ok? Tomorrow we will address the Jake issue, but tonight we are going to have fun our first night in London. One step at a time." She stood up, holding out a hand to help me. I looked at it, wondering if I would pull her down again if I used it. I grabbed it anyway and was surprised again by how much stronger Alice was than she looked. We walked down the hall and opened the door to the room I had been in before. Alice looked around and then walked out, opening the next door. I followed slowly until I heard a squeal, prompting me to see what had made Alice make such a noise. I walked into Wonderland.

The room was a pale blue, but without being powder blue or baby blue, and had light wood floors. It had the same floor to ceiling windows as the other bedroom, but instead of bookshelves it had a giant corkboard on one wall. I found Alice standing in front of it, staring at it in adoration, visions of fashion and designs dancing in her head. She sighed as I came to stand next to her and said quietly, "Dibs." I looked at her, looked at the room and decided that I should tell her about the hot as fuck shower in the other room, just in case.

"Are you sure?" I inquired. "The other one has this cool as shit shower that would be great for um, well for when you and Jasper start fucking like bunnies, honestly." She smiled at that thought, but waved away my concerns.

"If you mean the sauna shower with the bench, this has the same thing. Both of these rooms have en-suites. So again I say dibs." She smiled and looked around, stilling suddenly. He mouth dropped open into a little 'o' and she turned to face me, horror dawning across her face. Ah, she had figured it out.

"Bella. How are we supposed to unpack when we have no furniture?"

We eventually decided on just throwing our luggage into our rooms for the time being (Alice needed help again) and then settled in to calling our families. For Alice, this also meant arranging for some beds or mattresses or something to be delivered as soon as possible so we weren't sleeping on wood floors tonight, but for me it meant calling my parents and then calling Jake. I grabbed my phone and walked onto our awesome balcony that I had failed to notice earlier. Alice wanted to get a hot tub to go out here, and I said that was fine, as long as we also got a barbeque. I can't cook steaks without a barbeque. I took a few pictures of the view and sent them to Jake before calling my parents. The phone kept ringing and ringing, and I thought they weren't home, when someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" Renee said.

"Hi Mamma!" I said into the phone, more enthusiastically than I meant to because, let's face it, I missed my Mommy.

"Bella! Charlie, it's Bella! Here, baby, let me put you on speaker phone real quick." And then she hung up on me. I sighed; she still didn't realize that you hit speaker and then hung up the phone. I called her again, and this time Charlie picked up.

"Bells?" he asked, a smile in his voice.

"Hey Daddy," I said, trying not to sniff too loudly because the stupid tears were back. I hadn't realized how much I was going to miss my parents.

"Hey honey!" my mom called from the background.

"Hi Mom!" I said back

"How was your flight? Are you settled in ok? How's the apartment?" Renee shot questions at me before I even heard the first one. I heard Charlie chuckle and say, 'Settle down, Renee, we have free long distance,' before he spoke again.

"So, Bells, how was the flight? Airplane food alright?" I smiled at my dad's ability to make even the biggest deals seem like he asking about the weather.

"Airplane food is airplane food, Dad. It all sucks. My flight was excellent, however. I made a new friend!" I smiled broadly when I head Renee say 'thank God' in the background. Renee had been the social butterfly in high school and despaired over the fact that socially, I was more like Charlie. We didn't need to say a lot, and we didn't need a lot of acquaintances.

"Good for you Bells," said Charlie.

"What's she like? Is she nice? What's her name?" said Renee. I chuckled as I heard Charlie tell her again to calm down. My mom wasn't nosey; she just liked to be informed.

"Her name is Alice," I started, "and she's very nice. She's a fashion student at Kingston, too, and has excellent taste in music. She sat next to me on the plane, and we did an awesome air band rendition of _Hot for Teacher,_ if I do say so myself." Renee gasped in horror at the thought that I had let my tendencies to dance to whatever, whenever, and wherever slip in front of the people on the plane. She had tried to teach me how to be a proper young lady, but I had spent too much time with the boys for all of it to stick.

"I should hope so," Charlie said, "you played it enough." Charlie hadn't always been a fan of my music, especially when I went through my hair metal and death metal phases.

"Well," he said, "how's the apartment?" I sighed, glad there were five thousand miles separating my parents and I because no matter how glad they were that I had made a friend, moving in with her right away was sure to freak them out. Hell, it should have freaked _me_ out, but they didn't know Alice.

I took a deep breath and prepared to explain. "Well, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. You see, Alice mentioned that she had this great place and that it was empty and paid for, and then she may have offered to let me move in, so I don't know how the other place is. This place, however, is killer. It has the best view and--" Renee finally jumped in, cutting me off.

"Isabella Marie Swan! Are you telling me that you're living with a strange girl you just met?" I could hear the disbelief in her voice, surprised that responsible me would do such a thing. I sighed, trying to think of the best way to explain that Alice was special. Mostly I just whined.

"But Mom," I said, "Alice is different! It feels like we've known each other our whole lives! She feels like family." _She is family,_ I added silently to myself.

"Besides, I'm twenty-one and in another country. I'm old enough to make decisions like these, Mamma. You taught me well, so don't worry, okay?" I hoped she would listen because I didn't want her haranguing me every time I called. I really wanted to just introduce her to Alice because I'm sure she would have assuaged all my mother's fears in a single sentence. I heard my dad say, 'She's right, Renee. She's grown now,' and felt the tears well up again. _Fucking tears! Go away! I'm tired of crying. _I was touched that my dad thought I was ready for the big bad world because I loved my dad and had always trusted his judgment.

"Well," Renee started, "you're right, honey. You're a grown woman now, and I have to let you make your own decisions. I just want what's best for you, that's all." I heard a sniff, and was glad I wasn't the only one crying. I started to speak but was interrupted by a huge, audible yawn.

Charlie laughed and said "Well, Bells, we'll let you go. I'm sure you're tired, and you should sleep."

I heard Renee sniff again before saying, "Bye baby. Call us again tomorrow, alright? I love you." I felt a huge surge of love for my parents because, in the end, they only wanted what was best for me.

"Bye Mom, bye Dad. I love you both!" I said, and was about to hang up, when I heard Charlie speak again.

"You've done well, baby girl. I'm real proud of you. I love you," he said, and I thought I heard a sniff.

"I love you too, Daddy. Always and always." I choked into the phone, trying to keep the homesickness in check. I heard the click on his end and set my phone down. I needed to get a hold of myself before I called Jake. I took deep breaths and concentrated on peaceful things like dolphins and bunny rabbits and sunny skies and my fingers wrapped in bronze hair and—I sat up, trying to eliminate the mental image I'd just had. _This is bullshit, man. He's invading my happy place now? No. Fuck that._ I mentally shook myself, trying to get the part of my brain that was always in the gutter to stop telling me that _he's invading my happy place_ is what she said.

I got up and started to pace back and forth, focusing solely on the rhythm of my steps and matching my breathing to the beat. When I finally felt calm enough, I picked up my phone and called Jake. He answered on the first ring.

"Bella?" he asked.

"Hey, Jakers." I whispered into the phone. Hearing his voice was making me feel so guilty. How could I doubt this when I missed him so much? I swallowed, trying to fight the tightness in my chest.

"What took you so long?" he said. "You said you'd call when you landed and that was three hours ago." Ah, yes. Reason number one for my doubts: cave mannish tendencies that weren't protective, just slightly possessive and controlling. Always wanted to know where I was, who I was with, and he never asked it in a way that made it sound like he was just curious.

"Well, shit came up, alright? I had to get my luggage, and then I had to get Alice's luggage and Jasper and the apartment and--" I was cut off suddenly by a loud huff on the other end of the phone.

"Bella, you don't have to get mad. I just was worried about you." Ah, reason number two: guilt. Notice that most people wouldn't have freaked because they understand that maybe landing in another country you're going to be living in for the next year is a good reason to not remember to call someone the second you land. Jake, however, made me feel like I had done something wrong. Fuck, I hated this. I would feel like everything was perfect, and then I would remember what wasn't. The more I thought about it, the more these six months apart seemed like a good idea.

"I'm not mad, Jake; I was just trying to explain it to you," I sighed, knowing exactly where this was headed and feeling powerless to stop it. I was going to feel like I had to justify my every move, he was going to get mad, I was going to get frustrated and then feel bad when he pouted and was sad. Fuck this shit.

"Well, you said you would call me, and you didn't. Is this how it's going to be now?" I could hear his voice tightening with pent up anger, but he had never ever gotten so mad he was actually yelling at me. He was afraid of his temper and kept a close watch on it.

"No baby, it's not. I will call you. I just got busy is all. I made a new friend!" I said, trying to acknowledge his fears and move on. Jake was terrified I would find someone else while I was here.

"Oh yeah?" he didn't sound particularly excited for me, but that wasn't unusual. Jake wasn't a big fan of the people I liked. He thought they were strange, and he didn't get the humor we shared. I liked folk who are very much their own people, you know? I know who I am mostly and I get along with people who have a strong personal identity. Jake should have had the best and strongest personal identity of anyone because he has a whole tribe to teach him where he came from, but Jake didn't see the past the same way I did. He thought the past was something you're aware of, but didn't need to look at too closely because it was in the past. I was of the belief that if you wake up someday and wonder who the fuck you are, look at your past. If you forget your roots and where you came from, you won't know yourself in twenty years. Your past is a map to your future, and he was driving blind.

Jake was a strong, self-assured man, but he didn't know himself. How can you be in a relationship, a situation where you know the other person as well as you know yourself, when you don't even know who you are?

"Yes! Her name is Alice and she's the shit. We spent the whole flight just talking and dancing around to all sorts of music! She makes an excellent David Lee Roth," I smiled, remembering my flight with Alice. I was so glad to have a made a friend like her and was looking forward to what the semester would bring.

"That's so great, Bells! I'm happy for you." Fuck, nice Jake was back. God, why couldn't the man just be an ass or be a sweetheart. Just make up your mind, please, so I could do the same. The conversation continued to be pleasant, which was only accomplished by me maybe possibly forgetting to tell him that I had moved in with Alice. I just told him my apartment was awesome, and he wanted to talk more about what had been happening to him, so he didn't really push too hard. We said goodbye and hung up, leaving the conversation at an awkward end. I sighed and walked back into the apartment.

Alice was still on her phone as I walked past the kitchen, waving when she looked my way. She smiled at me before yawning dramatically, signifying that her conversation was less that titillating. I went down the hall and walked into my room, looking for my backpack and finding it in the corner where I had thrown it earlier. I picked it up, searching through the front pocket for my smokes. I grabbed the black box and walked back to the patio, putting the box on the counter that ran the length of one of the walls, before putting a cigarette to my lips and lighting it. I leaned against the railing, relaxing as much as possible without chairs. I took a drag and held it for a moment before exhaling.

I should be excited, not bummed. I was in my dream city, in a great apartment with two new friends and the promise of more. I should have been jumping for joy, but instead I was standing sullenly on my balcony. I looked out over the city, thinking of all the reasons I wanted to come here in the first place. I wanted the experience of being in another country. I wanted to be on my own, away from my support, because I needed to see if I could do it.

The biggest reason was because I wanted to find myself, like truly find myself. I knew generally who I was, but my identity was greatly related to the identity I had as part of a couple. I had been with Jake so long that we were part of the same entity to a lot of people we met. I was tired of being "Jake's girlfriend" or "Bella, she's with Jake." I wanted to be known for who I was, not who I was with. I looked over my shoulder as the sliding door opened, revealing Alice standing in the doorway.

"Hey," she ventured. "I wasn't sure if you were alright. You looked pretty shaken up when you came inside a minute ago." She walked over and picked up my smokes, quirking an eyebrow in the universal expression for "Can I have one?" I nodded slightly, and she picked up the lighter and lit her cigarette. As she exhaled, she looked curiously at the cigarette she held between her fingers. "What is this? It tastes like…vanilla?" She looked at me, seeking confirmation.

"It's a Djarum Black. They're kretek cigarettes. You know - cloves." She made the "ah" face and took another drag.

"These are good," she said, the surprise evident in her voice. "I usually only like menthols, but these are really good." I wasn't surprised that Alice was a menthol smoker, because I just didn't see her sucking down Marlboro Reds like most of the people I knew. "So. Wanna talk?" She said it in such a way that I knew if I said "no" she wouldn't push, or think it was because I didn't trust her. I bit my lip, trying to decide if I wanted to talk or just stew. Finally I sighed, flicking the butt of my smoke over the balcony.

"My folks are good. Happy I'm safe, glad I have a friend," she smiled brightly at this, "and just generally being very supportive. Jake, on the other hand, can't pick between being an asshole and being a sweetheart. I'm starting to think that six months apart is a good idea." I looked over the balcony for a second, not really focusing on anything before I made a decision. I would not let my sad, depressed boyfriend ruin London for me, especially when he was 5,000 miles away and on another continent. I wouldn't let anyone ruin London for me. I looked up, deciding that my kickass time in London started now.

"So, Alice, how were your phone calls?" I said, blatantly changing the subject. I got a strange look, but she seemed to know that the last thing I wanted to discuss right now was Jake.

"They were good. My parents are glad I got here safe and that I made a friend," now it was my turn to smile, "and we should have some mattresses in an hour." I looked at her, making sure she wasn't joking.

"Seriously? How did you do that?" She just looked at me, smiling like that damn cat that ate the canary.

"In the usual way, of course. Threats and coercion. They're only futon mattresses, but it's better than sleeping on the floor. I figured we'd go shopping for furniture tomorrow. My dad told me a few places to go if we want unique things, so I thought we'd make a day of it!" She looked happy, and I felt myself smiling along with her. It would be fun shopping with Alice. Not clothes shopping, because I knew that was a whole different animal, but furniture shopping was harmless. Right?

The next few hours passed quickly. The mattresses arrived and were placed ceremoniously in the middle of our bedroom floors. We hung up clothes in the closet, which may have been traumatic for Alice because I only had one dress, a few pairs of nice pants and a couple button-down shirts to hang up while she had about fifty of each. She had another shock when I pulled my prized possessions from the bottom of one of my bags. My black, knee-high Doc Marten boots were possibly my favorite shoes ever, besides my Chucks. Alice said they suited me, although she would never wear them, and decided that they must also be used in this mysterious clothing line of hers.

We took showers after that, and let me tell you, that shower was fuckawesome. I just sat on the bench for a half hour, letting the steam swirl around me while I shaved my legs. When I finally had no reason to be in there anymore I turned it off and threw my hair up in a towel, not bothering with clothes since I got to walk into my room from the shower. I threw on a cotton bra and some red boy shorts before I attempted to pick some clothes. I finally decided on a skinny pair of dark blue Levi's and my lovingly abused Green Day t-shirt, which, to be honest, was just a variation of what I wore most every day. I went back into the bathroom to dry my hair a little before making my way to the kitchen, discovering that Alice had also taken a casual approach to her outfit. She was wearing pair of skinny grey jeans with a dark red v-neck tank top. We were both barefoot with wet hair and no makeup, and it was the most comfortable I had been in a long time. It felt like we'd been doing this forever.

She sat down on the floor with her back resting against the island. I sat next to her, bringing my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them. I could feel the tension rolling off of her in waves and wondered what she was so tense about. I figured that if she wanted to explain, she would, and just sat next to her, silently offering my support.

"Jasper," she finally said, "will be here in fifteen minutes. With food. And his friends." She grabbed my arm and faced me. "What am I going to do?"

I put my hand over hers and squeezed. "You will charm their pants off, that's what you'll do. How could they not love you?" I moved my arm over her shoulder and gave her a big hug, knowing that what she needed right now was assurance that she wasn't going to make a fool of herself in front of her beloved. Just then we heard a knock on the front door.

"They're here," she breathed. I stood up, going to greet the unknown.

***gasp* Who could be at the door with Jasper? Any ideas?**

**Let's see, who should I rec this week….so many to choose from…ok! Tie Me Down To This World by Struck Upon A Star is one of *the* best Alice and Jasper fics I've ever read. It's an awesomely original take on their relationship, and as you will see, I love me so Jasper. Mmmhmmm.**

**Oh lurkers! A few of you came out and reviewed : ) We're making progress! How about a fewe more? I'll send an Edward your way stat!**


	6. Chapter Four: Baby Loves To Run

**A/N: What's up fools? Hello out there to all the new readers :) Seeing new people add me to their alerts makes me happy. The lovely ladies over at Project Team Beta get a huuuge shout-out on this chapter, they helped make it awesome! **

**Characters belong to the lovely SM and I wish I owned the girls apartment.**

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* * *

  
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_She's a rebel,_

_She's a saint,_

_She's the salt of the earth_

_And she's dangerous_

_--Green Day_

"_They're here," she breathed. I stood up, going to greet the unknown._

I walked toward the front door, listening to my bare feet slap against the hard wood. _You know what else I'd like to hear slapping against hard wood is—_Fuck! What is this? I knew I had a dirty mind, but Jesus Christ, I couldn't walk around my apartment without turning it into something sexual. I sighed, frustrated beyond belief, and opened the door. Standing on the other side was Jasper, looking dapper again in some dark jeans, blue Vans deck shoes, and a white t-shirt bearing crossed American and Confederate flags with "The South Will Rise Again" written below them in curling script. Behind him was a giant.

Not an actual giant, but this man was _huge_. He looked strangely familiar, and after a moment, I recognized him.

"Holy shit, I know who you are!" I said loudly, pointing at the bear of a man. He gave me a confused look, and I remembered he was still standing in the hall. "Oh my God, you guys, please come in! I'm sorry!" I swung the door wide and tried to back up at the same time, but because it's me I totally ate shit in the entryway.

"Lady Bella, are you alright?" Jasper said as he reached out to help me up. I grabbed his hand and let him haul me to my feet. He put his hands on my shoulders, helping to steady me as I regained my balance.

"Yeah, Jasper, I'm fine. I do that a lot, just a heads up. Come on in." I stood to the side of the entry way as they made their way inside. As soon as I had closed the door Jasper spoke again.

"So, fair Bella, you said you knew my friend here?" He looked towards the giant, checking to see if he recognized me.

"Well, not exactly," I started to explain. "I saw him on the cover of a sports magazine on the flight over. All it said was 'McCarty - England's American Rugby Star.' But I remember _him_. He makes an impression on you." I smiled at the newcomer and held out my hand.

"Bella Swan. Nice to meet you." He smiled in return, looking much less intimidating because he had the cutest dimples I had ever seen. Lord, you just wanted to hug him.

"Hi, I'm Emmett McCarty." His hand was huge, and his grip strong but he looked surprised when I returned the force. "Shit, you have a great handshake for a chick." He looked me over closely, nodding when he finished, almost in approval.

"Bitchin'," I said, earning a double take from Emmett and a smirk from Jasper. "Why don't you guys follow me over here? Alice is in the kitchen." I walked towards the kitchen calling, "Alice, darling, we're home!" I heard some muffled sounds and what sounded like a quiet but heartfelt 'fuck' before Alice appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Oh! Hi," she breathed, her eyes immediately finding Jasper and ignoring the rest of us. Jasper walked forward and held out his hand. Alice placed hers in his and he drew her forward.

"Miss Alice, may I introduce my friend Emmett McCarty?" Alice held out her hand, shaking politely with Emmett.

"It's nice to meet you, Emmett," she said, "please excuse our lack of furniture; we just moved in." She gestured to the lack of even a folding chair in our apartment. Emmett returned the handshake, clearly attempting to not hurt Alice with his huge hands and her overall tiny-ness.

"It's nice to meet you too, Alice. Jasper hasn't stopped talking about you," he smiled broadly, flashing the irresistible dimples at her. Jasper had the grace to flush a little before making the universal "You're dead" hand sign at Emmett. I elbowed Emmett in the ribs as Rhett and Scarlett went back to staring at each other, although in a much more harmonious way than the real Rhett and Scarlett ever did.

"He's gonna kill you man. High five!" I reached up as high as I could to give Emmett a high five. I don't know why, but Emmett and I seemed to click. Maybe it was because we realized that since the others were glued to each other, we should stick together. He laughed and threw his arm around my shoulders, sighing dramatically.

"Well, Bella, why don't you give me the grand tour," he said, winking at me conspiratorially, "while these two christen the island there?" We walked away to the dumbstruck looks on the lovebird's faces, Emmett laughing heartily the whole way.

As I led him down the hall, I recognized why I felt so comfortable with Emmett. He felt like my pack of boys back home. He felt like a brother, someone who would watch out for me and someone to laugh with. He was like a bear when you first saw him, but I had a feeling Emmett would be more of a teddy bear to those he considered friends. I stopped and opened the bathroom door. "Alright, so this is the bathroom. It's pretty awesome."

He looked around, nodded and said, "I concur," as if that's just what you said about bathrooms. I walked to the closet next.

"This is the closet. You can throw shit in here if you want it out of the way." I opened the door and did the Vannah White presentation arms

He just nodded again and said, "Closet-good for holding shit," and before continuing down the hall.

My room was next. I opened the door, pointed at my poor, vacant book cases and said, "That's the only cool thing about this room so far since I have no furniture. Although they are empty, so I still don't have any books or music to share with you." And then he spoke an actual sentence.

"Dude, a friend of mine would love this room. He'd seriously go ape-shit for it." We walked out of the room, heading to Alice's room. I stopped before I opened the door and placed a hand on Emmett's arm to keep him from walking into me.

"Okay, now, this is Alice's room," I said, and he nodded in understanding. "We're gonna go in, but we're not touching anything. She will know. Don't ask me to explain, just accept that my fucking Spidey sense is going berserk and don't touch shit." I reached behind me and opened the door. We took two steps in and froze.

The first thing I noticed was the clothes. They were everywhere. They were hung on hangers anywhere they could and folded neatly all over the floor. Her shoes, and Jesus fuck there was an army of them, were all lined up on the far wall, next to the futon. Emmett let out a low whistle next to me.

"I'm so afraid to breathe right now, it's not even funny. I don't know why, I just understand that if I touch anything, my life will be forfeit. Can we leave now?" I glanced towards him only to see him looking at me, eyes wide with that primal instinct to get the fuck out of Dodge.

"Yes. Back out, slowly." We inched backwards at a snail's pace, finally reaching the door and shutting it behind us. For a second we both just stood there, staring at the door before we both exhaled loudly and straightened up from the crouch we didn't know we were in.

"Well, fuck me sideways and call me Lucy," Emmett said reverently. "Je-sus _Christ." _ He glanced down at me and gestured back down the hall, indicating that we should beat feet and go back to the kitchen. We both seemed to settle down as we got father away from the room. I felt myself relaxing and hoping we weren't walking in on something.

"You know," Emmett said, breaking the silence. "I think the reason I was so fucking terrified was because I could just tell those clothes were worth more than my life. Those are clothes I don't buy on purpose, because I'm afraid of ruining them." He looked at me sheepishly, his dark curls falling forward onto his face and his dimples just peeking out. "Could we maybe not mention that?" he asked me. "I'm pretty sure I'd never live it down if Jazz heard I was afraid of clothes." I stopped, and held out my hand.

Emmett looked at me curiously but grasped my hand anyway. "I swear to never mention said incident because you have just given me a new idea for a nickname." He shook my hand and looked at me curiously.

"Do I want to know?" he said. I looked at him and smiled sweetly, beckoning for him to follow me. I walked into the kitchen to see Alice and Jasper doing what they do best – staring at each other.

I stopped short of the island they were leaning against and looked at Emmett quickly before saying, "So, DJ Jazzy Jeff, what's the plan?" A few things happened in quick succession: Jasper turned purple, whether from rage or restrained hilarity I wasn't sure; Alice sounded like she was summoning dolphins she was squeaking so badly, but I think it had something to do with the fact that she was laughing and couldn't take a breath; and I think Emmett exploded. He burst out laughing so loudly I thought my eardrums were going to explode. It seemed his volume was just naturally jacked up a bit.

I looked around, wondering why that was so funny. I meant it to be stupid funny, not hilariously witty. Emmett finally calmed down a bit and, seeing my look of confusion, started to explain.

"Alright girlie, I'm sure you're wondering why that caused our dashing southern gentleman to turn such a lovely shade of plum," at this he looked at Jasper and said, "Really, J, you look beautiful in that color. It makes your eyes pop," a devilish smile on his lips as Jasper flipped him the bird. He laughed at Jasper's ire and turned back to me.

"You see, the day Jasper and I first met I walked into my new dorm room to find this fool in there with his stereo already set up and blaring some old school rap. I realized that he didn't know I was there because he was singing "The Magnificent Jazzy Jeff" at the top of his lungs, dancing around like he thought he was the Fresh Prince." He smiled at his friend, waving coyly at him. "I called him Jazzy Jeff for months after that, so he's a little sensitive, aren't you Jazzy-wazzy?" Emmett said as he turned to Jasper, making faces at him and reaching to pinch his cheeks. Jasper took two huge leaps and jumped Emmett, grabbing him around the neck, holding him down and giving him noogies.

"How do you like them apples, huh?" Jasper inquired as he rubbed his knuckles all over Emmett's head.

"Seriously, dude? Noogies? Are you six?" Emmett complained as he tried to pry Jasper off of him. I just walked over next to Alice and settled in to watch the boys fight.

She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Men."

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It was decided that since we had no furniture we would go back to Jasper's.

"Plus, my sister is supposed to come over after work and I'd love it if y'all met her." I held in my giggles as Jasper said "y'all" but only just.

His apartment was smaller than ours, but only because it didn't have the third bedroom and the awesome showers. We settled down in the living room which also held a big-ass flat screen TV, an extensive movie and video game collection, and an ungodly amount of video game consoles and entertainment devices.

When we had all settled in we started to decide on dinner. Jasper said there was a Thai place down the road we could order in from and according to Emmett, there was a French bistro in Soho, close to Seven Dials that had "beignets to die for," which he defended mightily when we all stared at him in utter confusion.

"Hey, man, this shit is delicious. Maison Bertaux is the best patisserie in London, as far as I'm concerned. If we don't go tonight I'll take you tomorrow, I promise. Mmmmm, fuck now I want beignets. All powdery and delicious. Mmmmm…" Emmett trailed off, his eyes closed in foodgasm bliss.

A knock on the door made us all jump, and we laughed as Jasper got up and went to answer it.

"That should be my sister, hold on a second and she can help us decide." He ambled to the door, opening it to reveal the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. There was something nagging at me about this woman. She seemed familiar, but that was stupid. I just got here a few hours ago, how could have possibly met her already?

I heard a strangled intake of breath come from my left and looked at Emmett. His jaw hung open and his eyes were glazed over. A whimper escaped his lips before he managed to snap his mouth shut. The beauty had walked in, giving Jazzy Jeff a big hug before taking off her coat and hanging it up. Her hair was the same perfect blonde as her brother's, and she looked gorgeous, yet normal, in loose jeans and a grease-stained white t-shirt. She walked towards the living room, looking around at us, taking stock of the new faces. Her eyes stayed on Emmett a second longer than the rest of us and you could see curiosity dawn in her features. Luckily, Emmett had stopped drooling and looked partially intelligent again.

Jasper walked forward as we all stood up, waiting to greet the newcomer. "Everyone," he said, "I'd like you to meet my sister, Rosalie Hale."

Rosalie looked around and waved shyly. "Hey, y'all," she drawled sweetly. She sounded like the perfect Southern Belle, complimenting her brother's antebellum gentleman.

Emmett was the first to step forward, hand stuck in front of him. She grasped it and shook firmly. "Hi," he breathed, "I'm Emmett, Emmett McCarty." He kept shaking her hand, rather absentmindedly. This wasn't that surprising as he wasn't doing anything but staring at Rosalie.

"McCarty? The rugby player?" Rosalie asked, seeming genuinely interested and not even noticing that she and Emmett were still shaking hands.

"You know who I am?" Emmett said, glowing slightly because the pretty lady knew his name. She placed a hand on her heart, and laughed prettily.

"Sugar, of course I know who you are! Everyone in the country knows your name." She smiled and put her hand on his arm. Emmett looked as if he was about to burst. Jasper cleared his throat, glaring at his friend's shameless ogling of his sister.

"Rose, there are other people I'd like you to meet," he said, looking pointedly at Alice and I, although we had been quite enjoying Emmett's incoherent state.

"Lord love a duck! I'm sorry Jazz, I completely forgot myself." She turned to us as Jasper pointed her in my direction.

"Rosalie, this is my new friend Bella Swan. Lady Bella, this is my sister Rose." I put out my hand to shake, but Rosalie pulled me into a hug. I looked bewilderedly at Jasper over her shoulder, but he was no help, all he was doing was staring at Alice. Again. I tentatively put my arms around Rosalie, and she pulled back after a second.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Bella. Jasper tells me you've just arrived from the States. We're gonna be great friends, I can feel it!" She squeezed my arm gently and I felt a grin break out across my face. How lucky was I, to have met so many great people in such a short amount of time? I turned to see Jasper place his hand on the small of Alice's back as her drew her forward.

"Rose," he said gently, "I'd like you to meet someone else. This is Alice Cullen." His remarks were addressed to Rosalie, but his eyes were for the woman at his side. Alice blushed slightly under Jasper's gaze, but she held her hand out to Rosalie; she got exactly the same reaction I did, which means a massive hug.

"Alice, I don't know hardly anything about you but, honey, if you're the reason my brother is smiling like he is right now then I would happily consider you a friend." She smiled, and received a squeal of approval in return.

We migrated back to the couches to figure out dinner, now that Rosalie was here. I gallantly moved to the chair Emmett had previously occupied so that he and Rose could have the love seat, while Jasper and Alice took the couch. It was finally decided that Thai sounded good to everyone, and we placed our order. And then the silence came.

This always happened, when a new group of people are forging relationships and connections. People still weren't sure which subjects were kosher to bring up, and that leads to complete and utter silence.

"Hey Rosalie?" I asked. "This is gonna sound weird, but you didn't happen to be on the cover of an auto magazine recently, did you?" It had been nagging at me since she walked in the door, the feeling that I had seen this woman already. I had let my brain work on it for a while and I had just remembered.

"What? A magazine?" Emmett looked curiously at Rose, and she stared right back. I liked her determination.

"Yes, a magazine. They wanted to do a feature on my work for Ferrari," she said, ignoring Emmett's spluttering. He was staring at her as if she was made of gold and he wanted to touch but was afraid to. She looked at him like if he touched, she would maim. I could see that Emmett's boyish charm had worn off on Rosalie, and now he was just a jock.

Alice piped up from beside Jasper. "Do you like your work?" she asked.

Rose answered immediately her whole face alight, "I love my work. I love being able to build things with my own two hands. I love the sense of accomplishment I get when I figure out a way to make the internal combustion engine _better_. I…just love it," she finished with a shrug that said "that's just how it is."

There was a knock on the door, signaling the arrival of our dinner. Jasper got up and paid the deliveryman, the smell of Pad Thai and spring rolls wafting over his shoulder. He grabbed some Cokes from the fridge as he walked back to the living room, setting everything down on the table. We gathered around, everyone eating everyone else's food, and I felt myself getting comfortable with these people.

Jasper was quiet, but I felt it was more from a desire to observe than a lack of something to say, and Alice was more than loquacious enough for the both of them. Emmett was like my boys back home, although he seemed slightly more intelligent than my pack. Rosalie was breathtakingly beautiful and more down-to-earth than anyone I'd ever met. Em clearly wanted in her pants and I could tell from the way her eyes lingered on him as he reached for the drunken noodles Rosalie was attracted to him as well, but she wasn't one to let a pretty face fool her. She was going to make him earn a date with her, I could feel it.

The rest of the evening passed comfortably, each of us testing the waters and discovering things about our new friends. Emmett, as it turned out, had a Masters in Mechanical Engineering as well as Bachelors in both Mathematics and Applied Physics. Jasper had graduated high school at 14 and had his doctorate in US History by 18. Rosalie had re-built her first engine at 10, taking apart the lawn mower. Jasper was her half-brother; her mother marrying Mr. Whitlock when Rose was 3 and Jasper was born a year later. Alice had gotten into fashion by making her own clothes, her mother teaching her when she was little. I was curled up in the chair, unbelievably comfortable while listening to the guys banter and thinking that today was a great first day.

I woke up in a pair of strong arms in the hallway leading up to my room. _How did I get in the apartment? And who the fuck is carrying me?_ I shifted, looking up to see Emmett peeking back, a slight smile on his face.

"Hey stranger," he said quietly. "You and Alice passed out in the living room and we didn't have the heart to wake you, so we brought you up. Hope you don't mind." He opened the door with one hand and walked in, turning the sheets down before setting me down on the bed. I snuggled under the blanket and felt Emmett tuck it in around my shoulders. I heard him walk towards the door and pause as he opened it.

"Good night, Ealah. Sweet dreams." I heard the door click as he closed it. I closed my eyes, relaxing back into sleep. The last thing I remember is a flash of bronze hair, a laugh echoing through my head.

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**A/N: Ok, so I know you guys must be like "Holy Jesus, where is Edward?" and I can't tell you where he is but I can tell you the next chapter is called "Lightening Strikes," and yes, that's big motherfucking clue, people. **

**REC: This week its Mr. Horrible by Algonquinrt. One of my favorite Edward's ever. For serious. Her take on James is beyond fabulous, and the world she created is amazing.**

**As always, review! I love seeing the emails in my inbox. I turn like six shades of red and giggle. Its pretty amusing.**

**Looooove,**

**Me.**


	7. Chapter Five: Lightning Strikes

**Guess who's back….back again…**

**Yes, that's right, our fearless girl adventurers! This chapter was really difficult to consider complete because it's so important I didn't want to rush it, and I'd like to take a second to thank those peeps who helped get this done.**

**Daniwerner and KrisB were beat's on this one and OMG I love them. Fer serious, guys, they helped clean it up and get it cohesive. Dani, Young Americans is for you and Chris, the line about porcupines and Emmett's Bangles moment are all yours.**

**My betabeta Ashlee/AshLove is teh awesome and caught so many things I would've comepletely over looked. Our beta circle of love is complete : )**

**There's more, but I'll get to it at the bottom.**

**I own nothing except Bella's boots, but I so rock those.**

_Love me or hate me, it's still an obsession  
Love me or hate me, that is the question  
If you love me then, thank you!  
If you hate me then, fuck you!_

_--Lady Sovereign_

I was woke the next morning by a high pitched beeping, followed by a crashing sound of epic proportions coming through my wall.

"FUCK!" I heard Alice yell. I jumped out of bed. _Oh, Jesus! Did something happen to her clothes?!? _As I attempted to make my way to her, I managed to trip on my shoes, slide across the floor, and slammed face-first into the door before I finally made it to the hall, marveling at the fact that I had, in fact, managed to remain upright. I threw open Alice's door to see her, clothes rumpled from sleep and hair going every which way, glaring at the wreckage of what I assumed was once an alarm clock.

"Goddamn-motherfucking-piece-of-shit-cunt-nugget! What kind of alarm clock can't even survive impact with a wall?! THE FUCKING PUSSY KIND!!!" she screamed at the electronic bits and pieces littering the floor. _Jesus fuck, Alice has got quiet an arm on her._ I stepped forward tentatively and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Alice? Hon?" I questioned, wishing I had something else to touch her with besides my hands. I was really going to need Righty and Lefty intact if this celibacy thing was going to work.

Alice turned to me slowly, eyes wide and staring like a killer zombie in a horror movie, half expecting her to say "Braaaaaiiinssss…"

"I fucking hate mornings," was all she said before striding out of the room. I heard her walk down the hall and into the kitchen, where doors and drawers slammed open and closed for a few minutes before "motherfucking Hitler's bitch!!" rang out.

I walked slowly down the hall so as not to spook her and finally made it to the kitchen. _I'm just like those fucking idiots in the horror movie! I'm actually following the zombie now. _Alice was standing at the sink with her back to me, hands braced on the counter, her breathing erratic. She whipped around as I walked in and placed her hands on her hips.

"We have no coffee," she said after a moment. "And not only do we have no coffee, but even if we did, we couldn't actually make any because we don't have a fucking coffeemaker." She glared over at the empty countertop and I swear I heard it whimper. _Time for diversionary tactics._

"Um, remember what we're doing today?" I said timidly, not knowing what would set her off at this point. She looked at me, slightly confused as she tried to remember what we were doing and if it had anything to do with java.

"Um. Shopping?" she said, perking up slightly at the idea of shopping, then drooping as she saw no caffeine in sight. I nodded.

"Close! We're getting furniture today! And," I said quickly, noticing the crazy come back into her eyes, "we're having breakfast with Emmett at his café! He said their coffee was the bomb." The crazy retreated as my news sunk in. Crisis averted for now, but we definitely needed to pick up a Mr. Coffee as well as some beans before the day was through.

We went off to our suites to get ready for the day. I showered and dried my hair before returning to my room to get dressed. _What to wear, what to wear…._ I grabbed my Doors shirt that had been cut up the sides and then laced back together with leather string. I modified a lot of my shirts when they didn't fit correctly, and I'm sure the second I walked out Alice would have a conniption. I wiggled into my black shrink-to-fit Levi's, grabbed my studded belt and threw on my black and grey Vans. A couple of hair ties, some bobby pins and my trusty Burt's Bees lip balm in my pocket and I was ready to go.

I grabbed my bag and slung it across my chest before opening the door and walking toward the living room. Alice was nowhere to be seen, so I walked onto the balcony and stood with my arms resting on the railing, taking in the city. I was kind of in shock; I mean, this shit only happened in movies right? Girl goes on international adventure, meets amazing people, falls in love and lives happily ever after. The End, Mazel Tov, thank you and goodnight. I stared at nothing for a few minutes before I realized I was actually looking at the building across the street. _Do you really expect him to walk out again? It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Accept it for what it was and move on._

Out of the blue, I heard muffled music. I looked around, wondering where the hell it was coming from before I realized it was coming from my bag. I wrenched it open, looking for my phone, and realized what the song was and who it must be.

_He's a lean mean wreckin' machine/He gets respected like a king when he's on the scene/So bust a move cause you know he's def/He's my DJ (the magnificent) Jazzy Jeff…_

I giggled as I answered the phone. "Jazzy Jeff, what a wonderful surprise. How the fuck did you get my number?" I heard a sharp intake of breath and a booming laugh that could only be Emmett. Jesus, that boy was loud.

"How did you know it was him?" I heard Emmett call from the background, and I realized I must be on speaker phone. At least they hadn't hung up on me like my mom.

"Well, when my phone started rapping 'He's my DJ (the magnificent) Jazzy Jeff!' I kind of figured there was really only one person it could be." I walked over to the countertop that ran the walls of the balcony and hopped up onto it while I listened to Jasper mutter what was sure to be unkind things in Emmett's direction. I heard Emmett say "what? I couldn't help it!" and understood that, had Jasper picked his own ringtone, it probably wouldn't have been Jazzy Jeff.

"Well, Lady Bella, I have your number because I, uh, called my phone from yours. Alice said it was a good idea!" He alleged, apparently not wanting to sound like a creeper. "Speaking of Miss Alice," _nice subject change, pal,_ "you wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you? She's not answering her phone…" he trailed off, and the despair in his voice was so cute I didn't have the heart to mess with him.

"Fear not, Romeo, she's getting dressed. Your lady love is well." I smiled, liking how Jasper made my inner-romantic come to the forefront. It was a nice change from the cynical outlook I usually had. I heard a sigh of relief, an 'oh, brother' from Emmett and a loud crash. I jumped, holding the phone away from my ear. Apparently today was going to be a day for crashing things.

There were some scuffling noises on the other end before I heard Emmett's voice in my ear. "Hey, man, watch it! I just wanna talk to her…FUCK! Jasper, no biting! No, Jasper, that's my no-no square!! N-" and the line clicked off. I was still looking at my phone, wondering what the shit just happened, when it started to ring again.

_All night, she wants the young American. Young American, young American, she wants the young American. All right, she wants the young American…_

"Coolest Ever" was blinking on my screen where a name should be, and I was pretty damn sure who was calling. I answered the phone saying, "Seriously dude? Young Americans? Coolest Ever? Could you have been more obvious?"

There was a deep chuckle in my ear before Emmett said, "Well, I am the coolest ever, and you knew it was me, so I'd say that's a point for obvious." I laughed, acknowledging the fact that he was right. "Anyway. Are you ready for the most orgasmic food you've ever had?"

"Oh, Young American, I hate to disappoint you but I have pretty high standards…what takes you minutes could take me nowhere. I don't know if you're going to live up to my…expectations for a big man like you. Since its you, though, I'm definitely ready to _try_ what is said to be the most orgasmic food ever."

"Ok, well then you and Scarlett should hurry up and get down here! I invited Jasper, bee tee dubs, 'cause I figured he'd be on the phone with her the whole time anyway," he said in an offhand sort of way. I chuckled, thinking that Alice was going to flip when she heard her new nickname.

"All right, I'll grab Miss O'Hara on the way out. See you soon."

"Over and out, Red Leader," he said and hung up the phone. _Star Wars references. I knew I liked him._

45 minutes later we were walking down Greek Street in Soho, heading towards the river. We had grabbed the Tube at Hyde Park Corner and gotten off at Tottenham Court Road. We walked down Oxford Street, and I could see the Virgin Megastore. I had a minor fit of hysteria as my brain went "Oh shit, oh shit! You're in LONDON," but I managed to contain it. We turned a corner and ambled through SoHo Park to Greek Street. Alice and Jasper were holding hands and strolling along like the lovesick weirdoes they were.

Emmett and I were walking like Egyptians.

Not only were we walking like them, but Em was singing the song at the top of his lungs, "Slide your feet up the street bend your back /Shift your arm then you pull it back!!" While following the helpful instructions left to us by The Bangles, we had an idea.

We decided to make a game out of seeing who got the most open-mouthed stares as we meandered down the street. So far, Em was winning. Apparently, seeing a huge man walking like an Egyptian one moment and doing pirouettes the next wasn't a regular occurrence in this neighborhood. I wasn't even attempting to beat him anymore; it was more fun to watch it all unfold.

I started to cluck like a chicken and flap my arms, ba-gocking loudly at passersby.

Emmett turned into a dog. He would bark at onlookers, and the one time someone tried to walk by him, he stuck his nose into their shoulder and started whuffling around like a hunting dog after a scent. The man ran away, mumbling about "miscreants" and "uncontrolled youth." Emmett let out a howl and I joined in before we stumbled down the street, laughing our asses off.

Suddenly he stopped and grabbed my hand. I turned to look at him, only to find him staring at a little blue shop. "Maison Bertaux Café" was written on a blue-striped awning, two small tables in front of the big picture window. Inside was heaven.

Warm golden light shone down on a huge display case, all kinds of delicious pastries safely stored behind the glass. I half expected the Hallelujah chorus to start playing. Emmett tugged on my hand and pulled me through the door.

"Be with you in a second!" a woman called from the back. I heard the bell above the door chime again and looked over my shoulder to see Alice and Jasper walk in. They stood next to us, looking over the pastries and deciding which ones to get.

I looked up just in time to see a stunning woman walk out of the back. She had strawberry blond curls that fell artfully around her face, perfect lips and cold, blue eyes. Something about those eyes gave me the willies. It was like she was empty. There was no soul in those eyes.

She had a smudge of flour across her cheek, and icing on her apron. A name tag pinned to the front of her royal blue apron proclaimed her to be Tanya. She smiled brightly at Emmett and Jasper, giving Alice and I a forced grimace that I suppose was meant to be a smile.

"Welcome to Maison Bertaux," she said with a heavy English accent. "How can I help you?" I had a feeling that "help" could be taken in a few different ways. She directed all of her comments at the boys, giving us females the cold shoulder. As Emmett made up his mind, asking Jasper what he wanted, I watched the woman eyefuck the hell out of the men. And not in the classy kind of way.

Alice leaned in and muttered in my ear, "Bitch looks at my man again like he's something to eat and I will take her down." Her words had the ring of truth about them, and I knew she was for real.

"I'll hold her, you hit. Then it's my turn," I said back, not at all liking the way she was ogling Emmett. It's universally agreed by all who know me that, more than anything, I'm as loyal as a pit bull. Once I consider you a friend, I will do anything for you. And that includes saving Emmett from the harpy. You know a chick is bad news if every other woman in the room wants to take her out. We can't all be wrong, nor can we all be jealous. It's primal instinct to feel defensive around a threat; Tanya was most definitely a threat.

There were little lines creasing Emmett's forehead as he studied the display case. "Hmmmmm," he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We'll have four orders of beignets, four coffees, and then whatever they want," he declared as he gestured toward the rest of us.

Alice and I walked slowly and purposefully up to the pastry case. Every muscle in my body was tense. This Tanya chick was giving me a bad feeling. Something about her felt…off. I didn't like her. It was unreasonable, since I didn't even know her, but it was also undeniable. I just knew that if she was given the chance, she would fuck my life up royally. I was pretty sure she would fuck up her mother's life and not think twice about it, if it got her what she wanted. There was a sense of…ruthlessness about her.

I looked up to see contempt and condescension blazing in her cold blue eyes. Typical. I always had people jumping to the wrong conclusions about me, but it really pissed me off that this woman thought _I_ was the bad one. Bitch. I could feel Alice stiffen next to me; she had clearly noticed the battle of wills going on between me and the sugar slag.

"We'll have a dozen éclairs," Alice said coolly, her grey eyes steely. Tanya gulped. Apparently Alice was scary. I guess I could see it. I was scary in that "unknown" way, whereas Alice could be scary in that "ruthless Roman Emperor" way. She would take care of her people, and woe to any who tried to mess with her. Good to know. "Quickly."

"O-of course. Right away." Tanya scurried away, wrapping up beignets and éclairs, pouring cups of coffee. Emmett stepped up to pay for breakfast, waving away our offers to contribute.

"I got this," he said. "Seriously, I insist." We mumbled our thanks and went to sit outside. Emmett walked out a few seconds later, setting down our goodies and dividing them up. As he pulled out the beignets, a napkin fluttered to the ground.

I reached down to pick it up and I noticed the writing on it. "You have got to be fucking _kidding_ me," I muttered, not believing someone could be this skanky. Tanya had left a note. It was addressed to "The two scrumptious lads" and gave a detailed description of her favorite activities. Apparently, Tanya was into Role Playing, and I don't mean a good old-fashioned game of Dungeons and Dragons. Her phone number was listed at the bottom, next to a lipstick kiss.

Alice was the only one to notice the napkin and my look of disgust, because the men-folk were much too busy chowing down on beignets and éclairs. She read the note over my shoulder, a strangled noise escaping her as she reached the bottom. Her teeth ground together, and she inhaled sharply through her nose.

"Motherfucker," she said quietly. She looked at me, and I could see the revulsion I felt reflected in her gaze. This Tanya chick felt…slimy. You know those women. You can't put your finger on it, but they feel wrong. Something about them makes all the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel like you need to mark everything that belongs to you, _especially_ your men. I made a mental note to find Em a new bakery. I was afraid of what that woman would attempt.

We finished our pastries and coffee, which I have to admit were fucking brilliant, and headed off towards Jermyn Street and the antique shop Papa Cullen had recommended. We walked to the end of Greek and took a right onto Shaftesbury, passing a few (okay, a lot of) Chinese places and a steakhouse. There was a theater on our right and buildings from the time of dear old Billy Shakespeare and the like. Big and tall and brick, with enough roof spines to give a porcupine a hard-on and some funny ideas.

Emmett was trying to play tour guide but it mostly consisted of drunken stories about places we passed. He would start with a historical fact and then get side-tracked. "This building was first constructed in 1654, as part of a hospital. One time, we took the freshman here and got them drunk and confused as part of 'team bonding' before the rest of us jumped out and scared the crap out of them!" It was cute as hell and unbelievably endearing.

I didn't think I had ever met someone as genuinely good-natured as Emmett. Some people might think it was him being dumb, but he's not at all; he was just one of those agreeable people. Wherever he went, he would find friends because he was so genuinely good natured. He was one of those _good guys_. You know, the ones we all want to exist but don't believe they do? Yeah. Apparently the fucking Brits have been hoarding them 'cause not only is Emmett crazy awesome, Jasper is too. I pondered the implications of this discovery as we ambled down the street. _So, does that mean all the men here are nice? Surely that can't be. There have to be assholes here _somewhere.

Before I met Emmet and Jasper…actually, before I met all three (or four if you count Rosalie) random people in the strangest of circumstances, I had felt apart from the world. Even as people surged about me, I was isolated-with them but not part of them. It's like this everywhere. I am…different. I don't think the same as these people, I don't dress the same, I don't act the same, and I sure as hell don't sound the same. I am completely singular in everything I do and am.

Back home this made me feel like I was cool; aloof and apart from the "everyday" people of Forks. When I got to SPU I felt like maybe I wasn't as apart as I thought, maybe I would find people who made me feel less bizarre, less…weird. I didn't and I despaired at the idea that maybe there just wasn't anyone like me out there.

Then I met these people, and I didn't feel so bizarre. Maybe I just needed the right set of individuals to help me understand.

Emmett noticed that I wasn't keeping up and came back for me. I looked up at him, my eyes wide with the knowledge of my (albeit involuntary) seclusion. I might not have a glass face, but my every thought is reflected in my eyes for all to see. Emmett saw all of this and he just smiled.

"Come on, Bella. I won't let you be alone anymore."

We walked into the antique shop on Jermyn Street a few minutes later and were greeted by a hollered "Just a moment!" from somewhere behind the giant stacks and piles of really, really old stuff.

We wandered aimlessly around, looking at the things that people didn't want for themselves but felt they could charge exorbitant amounts of money to people who did. Eh. Thus is life.

I heard Emmett laugh from somewhere behind the desks. "I'm totally King of England!" I followed the sound of his laughter, wondering what in God's name he was up to now. As I turned the corner of Wardrobe and Roll Top, I saw Em sitting on a colossal wooden throne. Seriously, a throne, with a giant carved back and red velvet cushion. He had his leg draped across the arm and his nose in the air, looking thoroughly royal.

"Eala, look! I'm Henry the eighth!" he said when I came into view. I paused, wondering if I'd heard correctly.

"Em, did you just call me Ella?"

He looked down sheepishly, pink slowly creeping into his face and the tips of his ears. He glanced up from under his lashes, looking shy and hesitant.

"Not 'Ella'. _Eala. _E-a-l-a," he said. "It's Gaelic."

"How do you know Gaelic?" I said, seriously shocked that that's what it was.

He looked at me with a smirk, saying in a perfect Irish lilt, "Oh and where do you think a nice name like McCarty came from? My kin's as Irish as they get."

I laughed, impressed by his accent prowess. He gave me a real smile before continuing.

"We McCarty's hail from Galway, an old fishing town on the west coast. My mother's folk come from Wicklow, on the opposite side. From the time I was born, Granny McCarty only ever spoke to us in Gaelic, saying we should never forget where we came from. She was the one who told me about the Swans." He was clearly proud of his heritage and his granny because he was beaming at the end of his explanation.

"But Emmett, why were you calling me that?" I asked, curious to know what it meant. He blushed again and smiled shyly at me.

"Well, at first just because it meant 'Swan,' but the more time I spend with you, the more it's because of what it means to be born in the time of the Swan. People born during its time are usually personified by the characteristics of beauty, love and soul. It was also said that Swan people are kind and gentle, adept in love and the social arts. They are calm and serene, with a strong domestic sense. And they are said to have a connection with the fae," he smiled and looked quickly towards where Alice's voice was issuing instructions, "shapeshifting, and creativity. You are clearly a Swan person." He paused, looking thoughtful. "When were you born?"

"September thirteenth," I answered, wondering where this was going. He just looked at me, mouth agape and the hamster off his wheel. "Close your mouth. You're letting the flies in."

"No. Fucking. Way. No way! It _was_ meant to be!" he cried as he jumped from his throne and wrapped me in what can only be described as the world's most all-encompassing bear hug, lifting me off the ground in his exuberance.

"Can't…breathe…" I squeaked out, unable to draw sufficient breath to say anything else. He put me down again and held me at arm's length.

"Eala, do you know when the time of the Swan is?" he asked, clearly wanting to share.

"No, Em, I can't say that I do," I replied, casually using my fingertips to check for broken ribs.

"People born between September second and September twenty-ninth are Swans. You really are the perfect Swan." He hugged me again, less fiercely this time but still with just as much emotion.

"You know what Granny McCarty also said? That someday I would meet a girl who would be the sister I was always meant to have. She said, 'Emmett, _garmhac_, your sister will be a Swan. You will know her by the mark of the serpent she bears," he touched my viperbites softly, "and the nature of the Swan that she is. You are meant to be her protector, and she your heart. She will be the thing that grounds you from your foolish decisions, wee man. She will have need of you, and it will be great.'" He looked at me, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"I will be here, Eala. Whatever storm you are to face, I will be here."

Jasper and Alice found me curled up like a kitten in Emmett's lap, once again sitting on the throne. She had picked what she liked and wanted to know what I needed. I wandered around, picking a large roll top desk that matched the floors, a huge wardrobe and the most amazing bed I had ever seen. It was made of a dark cherry wood, with turned posts made for a canopy and drapes, a headboard intricately carved with a garden scene and drawers built into the bottom. I fell in love with it and couldn't wait to see it in my room. I also got a few bedside tables and a large trunk, just in case I needed the extra storage.

Alice put a yellow sticky note on all of my choices and said we could leave. Apparently she had spoken to the shop attendant and it had been arranged that we would get the furniture and Big Daddy C would get the bill. Christ on a cannoli, I was beginning to love that man.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around Soho, looking in the different shops and buildings. I was exhausted when we got home, but I had never been so fucking happy in my whole life. I had a brother, a best friend, and Jasper, who was feeling like a confidante. There was something about him that made me trust him implicitly.

We ordered in some take-away, as it was apparently called, although I still called it take out. Tonight it was goode olde English fare, namely some fish and chips we got from a place a few blocks over. I plugged in the coffeemaker I had bought, put the grounds in the freezer and handed Alice a new alarm clock, which she accepted sheepishly. Hopefully this ensured that I wasn't awakened at the ass-crack of dawn by the sounds of electronic death. The boys left at midnight after a rousing game of charades and a relaxing time on the balcony. I crawled into bed that night glowing with elation. London was better than I had expected, and it was only the second day. In the words of Sweeny Todd, _"There's no place like London."_

Upon opening my eyes the next morning, I discovered that my caffeine distraction had worked and Alice was sitting calmly at the island, sipping her coffee. Wait, she was sitting? We don't have chairs….

I looked around the apartment and noticed that we had furniture. There were couches and chairs and electronics and all sorts of things. I stared dumbly at the new additions before turning to Alice. "How long was I asleep?"

"Well," she said, "It's about two now, so…fourteen hours?" She looked thoughtful, figuring out if her calculations were correct. Holy sleep deprivation, Batman. That's a shit ton of nappage.

"I got everything in except our antiques. They should be here in about an hour." Her phone started to ring then, and I decided that the couch looked comfortable, but it needed to be tested. You know, in case our couch was fucking faulty or some shit. _Field Testing, that's what I was doing. Yeah._

I settled in, deciding that yes, this couch passed the Field Test for User Comfort and Alice answered her phone.

"Hello?" she said, looking bored and sipping her coffee.

"Masen? Brother, you there?" She cried into the phone. A look of relief crossed her face, and I assumed that meant he had confirmed his presence. I decided that the couch should continue to be tested and stayed where I was. Truthfully, I was fucking curious about Edward "Masen" Cullen. I mean, he was Jasper's friend, Alice's brother/cousin and apparently a musician. He had to be interesting, right? I swung my legs up onto the couch so I was lying down, rolling onto my side to get comfortable. Alice spoke again. "When do you get back?" she asked, her voice laden with excitement. It was clear that she wanted whatshisface to approve of her and Jasper. That was sure to make the family reunion fun. Hey big brother, while you were out of town I fell hopelessly in love with one of your best friends! If Masen was anything like my boys back home, that would go over as well as a fart in church.

"You want to go out tonight? And you're going to bring your friends from school?" Alice peeped, her eyebrows disappearing into her bangs. Oh-ho, it looks like I not only get to meet the elder Cullen kid, but he gets to hear how his bestie loves his sister. Tonight was shaping up to be excellent. I started mentally going through my wardrobe, trying to decide on the appropriate attire to see my best friend and her boyfriend get chewed out by her brother and his best friend.

"No, that's fine, Masen. Yeah, sure. We'll see you then. Love you, too," she mumbled, hanging up the phone.

"Shitfuckgoddamnpieceofshitmotherfucker!" she said quietly but passionately to the countertop.

"Alice?" I asked, moving from my place on the couch to stand next to her. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes tight and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"That was my lovely brother," she said. "Apparently he has some sort of urgent news and wants to meet up tonight. And he wants to introduce me to someone." She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "bloody fucking hell" and dropped her head into her hands, resting her elbows on the countertop.

"It can't be that bad, right?" I asked, now feeling guilty for finding Alice's dilemma amusing. "I mean, he should be happy that you're both happy. Right?" I said hesitantly because Alice was looking at me with the "Oh you poor fool" look and I didn't like it. "Speak, woman. I can't fucking help if I don't know the sitch." She looked really worried, and that was starting to make me worried. Was her brother/cousin really a lunatic? Shit, was he an axe-murderer? Did they still use axes? Or were guns the more preferred…_Focus, Swan! We're worried about why Alice is freaking, not what the preferred weapon of choice is for modern-day murderers. Jesus, woman, where is your head at?_

My subconscious had a good point, so I listened to it. "Alice, should I dial 911? Or, wait…what's the UK version of 911? Shit, why don't I know that?" I looked at her, my eyes wide with panic. She looked back blankly for a second before she burst out laughing, tears streaming down her face. The lovely dolphin sounds you make when you can't breathe were coming out of her mouth.

"Oh, Jesus, Bella," she choked out, "Thank God I met you. I would have sat here and worked myself into a panic attack. And," she added, "999 is the British equivalent emergency number." She jumped off the barstool and went to get more coffee, leaving me to sit there and attempt to figure out what happened. Apparently my thoroughly jet-lagged brain just didn't care, and I went to sit on the couch.

"So what's the deal with tonight?" I called to Alice while I picked up a remote on the table. _This looks promising…_ I hit the power button and the new stereo blinked to life. So far, so good. I hit the radio button, and all hell broke loose.

The most horrible sin against music assaulted my ear drums. Really, really horrible easy listening music blasted out of our giant speakers and I clapped my hands over them in protection. Sadly, I also dropped the remote, so then I had to scramble around looking for it. Alice was yelling from the coffee pot, "HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS SHUT IT OFF!!" I dropped to my knees, looking around wildly for that stupid fucking remote. I couldn't see it anywhere, which meant it had run under the couch and hidden, apparently having heard of Alice, Queen of Electronic Assassinations. I pried one hand away from my ear and thought it was going to spontaneously start bleeding. _Gott im Himmel_ that shit was awful. I stuck my arm under the sofa and flailed around madly, managing to whack the stupid fucking remote across the room.

"GRAB IT!" I shrieked, watching the remote slide out from under the couch, across the wood floors and toward the kitchen. Alice scrambled over, but she was wearing socks, and when she ran from the kitchen to attempt an interception, she kept going, sliding straight at me, arms windmilling in an attempt to keep her balance. I braced myself for impact, knowing what was coming and powerless to stop it.

WHAM! She slammed into me and grabbed my arms for support, but I was wearing socks, too, and we had no purchase. There was much arm-flailing and excessive cursing but in the end gravity won out. We crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs, looking like some demented game of Twister.

"Holy gracelessness, Batman!" I said, wondering if I would ever stop fighting my klutziness. I lay back on the floor, listening to Alice wheeze in laughter, and noticed that goddamn fucking remote two inches from my fingers. Because of how my girlie friend was stuck to me, I still couldn't reach it.

"Touché, motherfucker. Until next time," I said to it, not even caring if I had actually fucking lost it because I was talking to a remote. I untangled myself and managed to shut the stupid stereo off before flopping back on the couch. _Jesus, I'm awake fifteen minutes and already I want to go back to sleep._ Alice crawled over and flopped next to me, eyes closed and mouth hanging open. I was almost asleep again when there was a very loud, very insistent knock on our door.

I got up, mumbling something about rest and being wicked, walked down the hall and pulled open the door. A group of burly men in jumpsuits looked back at me, all holding bubble wrapped packages.

"Can I help you?" I asked curiously.

The man in front tore his eyes away from my chest long enough to answer. "Yeah, we're supposed to be deliverin' furniture, eh luv? This is the Cullen flat, yeah?" He checked the name against his clipboard before staring lasciviously at me. Eh. I was used to it. When you looked like I did, and was a chick, it seemed to be like an open invitation for all the creepy men to ogle you without threat. _Or so they thought_.

Behind him I heard one of the other guys whisper loudly, "Wouldya look at the bristols on 'er, mate? They're fuckin' pierced!"

I looked down and realized that I had come to the door in my pajamas which consisted of a slouchy purple shirt and boxers with sheep on them. Fuck me; the girls were at full attention and the rings I had in were clearly visible through the thin cotton. It looked like I was standing in the Arctic.

I looked up devilishly from under my lashes, "Did you want to see them, lads?" I batted my eyes and licked my lips slowly. Their jaws all simultaneously dropped and intelligence left their features. There was silence for a moment, and I looked around at all of them, a coy sadness gracing my features.

"No? Oh, well, that's too bad, I like showing off my Bristol cities to all the merchants who come by." I dropped the façade, all playfulness leaving my face, cold annoyance taking its place. "And I also like to make a study of rhyming slang. Get inside and put my furniture together, yeah, before I file for harassment." I stood back and opened the door, my jaw clenched and hands in fists at my side. I almost hit (and by hit I, of course, meant sucker punched) the man who'd started it all, especially since he had to have the last word.

"Fuckin' berk," he said softly as he walked by, carrying my chest of drawers. I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back towards me, causing his friend to stumble forward. I turned him to face me, fisting my hand in his shirt. I pulled him close, staring into his eyes and speaking very softly and very precisely.

"Look, China," I said, finally remembering that China plate meant mate, "I'm not at all in the mood to be called a fucking cunt, alright? So get that butchers off your Chevy Chase and be happy I'm not pounding you into the ground, yeah?" I shoved him back towards the main part of the apartment, watching him until he and his buddy had turned the corner. Alice came strolling through the entryway with what must be her twelfth cup of coffee, looking inquisitively at the men hurrying past her.

"That man looked terrified. What the hell happened?"

"I had to give him lessons on messing with nice American girls. He thought if he kept his remarks in Cockney, I wouldn't understand. Little did he know, I was prepared for exactly that!" I laughed at the ridiculousness of what just happened. England was a weird place.

When the furniture was assembled and all the assholes had left we went over the game plan for the rest of the day. It mainly involved how to avoid Jasper's death. Apparently the ever-elusive Masen was crazy-protective of Alice; as in, he took that "older brother" thing way the fuck too far.

She had hardly dated in high school because Masen had let it be known that anyone who tried to make it with his baby sister should prepare for a very violent and very painful death. Or castration, depending on the time constraints of the situation and his mood at the time. Needless to say, when the captain of the water polo team (and those guys are not only immensely strong but also pretty hot-headed and irrational) told you to "keep your fuckin' distance, mate," you kept your fucking distance.

She was worried about Jasper. So was I, to be honest. This Masen kid sounded like a first-class prick. I know there's a certain responsibility that comes with being an older brother, but come on! Keeping your sister sheltered is not the answer. Protective and overbearing are synonyms, people. Jasper had called Alice earlier, telling her that Masen had called him as well and wanted him to help welcome his baby sister and "some bird she met on the plane," which I assumed meant me, and would he, Jasper, please call Emmett and would they both meet him, Edward/Masen/Fuckface (that last one was mine) at Monto Water Rats tonight at nine?

It was decided shortly after that I would get to run interference, since he didn't know what I looked like. I could distract him while Emmett and Rose got there as support, and possible distraction, before Alice would "see" Fuckface through the crowd. I would play the "oh what a surprise" card and fawn over him (there was some fuming on my part here, but I agreed, because who knew what I'd need Alice's help with in the future) to distract him while Alice dropped the bomb that she did, in fact, know Jasper already and they kind of had a date next weekend.

I was also going to be used as a sort of impromptu bodyguard in case he went fucknuts. Emmett was mainly in charge of that, but apparently Fuckface was a wily sonovabitch and known for his ability to escape any hold placed on him.

After our plan was finalized, we had lunch, lounged around and basically did nothing until about six, when Alice declared it was time to get ready.

"What the Jesus?" I sputtered, wondering why we needed to start now. "It's only six! I don't need three hours!"

"Bella," Alice said, gently but firmly, like I was a child refusing to eat my vegetables, "my brother needs to be dazzled. You are beautiful, but we need distracting as well. So come with me." She turned on her heel and walked towards my room. "The time has come," the Walrus said….we all know how that one turned out.

When I was sufficiently scrubbed and scoured and polished, I sat on my bed with strange unnamed products in my hair and a towel wrapped around me while Alice rifled through my clothes. She walked out of the closet, throwing clothes at me and holding my Docs.

"Wear this," she commanded, and walked out of the room.

I looked down at the outfit, amazed at what she deemed worthy. A short, extremely tight black jean skirt that had red stitching in the form of lightning bolts on the back pockets, a silver shirt and my boots. I'd make a statement, that's for sure.

I got dressed and sat through Alice's makeup application, keeping my mouth shut because I was afraid that if I said anything, she would kill me. Masen wasn't the only scary Cullen Kid. When she was finished, she stood back, smiling.

"Take a look!" she cried enthusiastically. I walked forward and looked in the mirror. Holy shit, I was…..well, to be perfectly honest, I looked fucking stunning. She had used silver to line my eyes, a sheer, shimmery white as shadow and lips the same red as the stitching on the skirt. I rummaged through my jewelry, grabbing all of my plain silver earrings and lip studs. I threaded the industrial through my ear, replaced the biggest studs with some delicate silver hoops and put my plain silver studs in my lip. I looked pretty fabulous.

"Alice, you are truly a miracle worker," I said, turning around and hugging her tightly. She grinned and hugged me back.

"I didn't do much at all," she said, "You're beautiful all by yourself."

We left at around 8:20 to get Jasper from his apartment and be on our way. Poor guy was sweating bullets. Alice held his hand all the way to the club, which was only a 25 minute ride on the tube from Hyde Park Corner to Kings Cross St Pancras. Emmett and Rose met us at the station, Emmett in dark wash jeans and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and Rose in a dark purple dress and heels.

We walked silently down Argyle Street to Grays Inn Road. When we passed the park on Argyle, I noticed there was a man huddled into a tree. Well, I assumed it was a man; he had his back to me and his hood was pulled up, but that would've been a very tall woman with very broad shoulders. He reached into his pocket, fumbling at whatever he was trying to grab. He found whatever it was and pulled at in close to his chest. From where I was it looked like he was shaking violently. He popped something into his mouth and worked his finger around a bit before letting out a visibly huge sigh and slumping down to sit at the bottom of the tree.

I say again: England is a weird place.

I dismissed Tree Guy and kept walking, eager to get to the pub and execute our plan, which, in reality, had a lot of problems. Number one: Who's to say I'm even going to be remotely attractive to Fuckface? The whole plan hinged on that fact - if I couldn't distract him, we failed. Number two: What if he still wants to kill Jasper and both Em and I can't hold him? We would be responsible for Jazzy Jeff getting beat. That's bad. _Shit. Maybe this is a really bad idea._

As I came to this conclusion, Rose stopped in front of me and I crashed into her back.

"Whoa, Eala! Steady there," Emmett said as he grabbed my arms to keep me from falling over. I righted myself and smiled at Emmett.

"Thanks, Em. Lucky you were there," I told him, grateful that he'd saved me from eating shit in my skirt. Rosalie had somehow managed to stay upright in her dress and four inch heels. _Stupid clumsy gene, I can't even stay upright in boots…_

I looked up and saw that we had arrived. The lower half of the building was was off white and aged, with white columns flanking the door and large picture windows, their wood frames dark and the trim blue."The Water Rats Theatre Bar" was written in a bold script in dark cobalt above the door. There were a few people milling about in front, and most of them seemed to be young like us. We huddled up to go over the game plan. I looked at my phone and saw that it was 8:58. Shit! Fuckface was going to be here soon.

"Right," Alice was saying, "everyone knows what they're doing then? The goal here, people, is little to no bloodshed. Masen is a protective guy and this is going to be…traumatic for him." She looked ill; she was more worried than she let on. _Poor Alice, this is really doing a number on her._ Masen wasn't going to fuck up Alice's relationship, I decided. That stupid man could just pick someone else to shelter.

We walked in and I took my place at the bar, while everyone but Alice went into the back room where they played music. I ordered a White Russian and set about to waiting, sipping the odd concoction I love so much and pantomiming a mock salute to the Dude. Alice was going to stay with me until Fuckface walked in the door so she could point him out to me. After that, I was running the show.

Jasper came up behind Alice and placed a hand on her waist, turning her to speak with him. I looked around, wondering where the fuck this guy was. I tapped Alice on the shoulder.

"Hey!" I yelled over the noise, "It's like nine now, so maybe Jazzy Jeff shouldn't be manhandling you." They both chuckled, and I wondered what the hell was so funny.

"Lady Bella, Edward is never, _ever_ on time," Jasper explained. "It's just not physically possible for him."

Oh. Well, if that was the case… "Hey! I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be back in a sec!" I shouted over the din. They nodded and turned back to the bar, trying to get drinks for everyone. I shouldered my way through the crowd, pushing where I had to in my fight to get to the restroom. I finally managed to get there and shoved my way through the door.

**EPOV**

I walked into Water Rats and paused just inside the door, letting my eyes adjust to the smoky haze and the din of many people in a small space. It was warm, and I'm glad I stuck to my jeans and Optimus Prime t-shirt instead of changing like I had planned. I scanned the crowd, looking for Alice or Jasper or Emmett. There was no one I knew that I could see, only the usual crowd of blokes looking to score and birds trying to give it away. There was a flash of red and a glint of metal. I looked for the source, scouring the crowd for something that would—

Oh. Shit.

My world had collapsed and reformed, all around that glorious woman. She was standing at the bar, leaning down slightly to talk to someone before she walked away. The colors in her hair and the steel in her ears gave me all the confirmation I needed. It's her. The woman from the building across the street.

I started to walk over to her when I see Jasper, one of my best friends and college roommates, standing at the bar. Emmett is walking up behind him, a gorgeous blond at his side. They seemed to be talking to…Alice? My baby sister? I stood up, staring at her for a moment before I notice a hand resting on her hip. A hand much too large to be hers. A hand that belongs to a bloke.

Wait a fucking second, lads.

Some man has his hands on my sister.

I follow the arm and it leads to…Jasper? _JASPER?_

He knew she was coming, and he always did look at the pictures of us too long. Oh my God, he was trying to seduce my little sister.

No way. Not fucking happening.

My vision was awash in the crimson tide of anger and betrayal.

I barreled through the crowd, my vision blinking from red to normal as I breathe. I felt my elbows dig into ribs and shoulders, I heard the disgruntled murmurs from the people I hit, but I didn't fucking care. My little sister was here less than two whole days and already my best friend has his hands all over her? Not bloody likely.

I came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, none too fucking gently, either. He turned around, shock and horror dawning on his face. He was terrified.

I looked him dead in the eye and said coldly, "You should be afraid, mate, because Imma fuckin' kill ya."

I knew he believed me because my accent got thicker as I got more emotional. At this point I'm fucking ballistic and starting to sound like a character in a Guy Ritchie film.

I heard "Edward, wait, I can-" before my fist connected with his face. I don't remember cocking my arm back, nor do I remember making the decision to release, but it happens. I landed him an upper cut right under his chin and he dropped like a stone. I stood there, looking down at him, my mind detachedly registering the fact that he was unconscious.

"MASEN!! WHAT THE MOTHER FUCK?!?!" I heard Alice scream. Well, I assumed it was Alice since she's the only one who ever called me Masen. I turned towards her voice as I saw Emmett walk over, clearly pissed that I just K.O.'d Jasper. Alice was still screaming at me as Emmett strode forward and put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her into a very close hug.

_E tu Brute?_

He looked at me just in time for my fist to connect with his nose. I hear a sick crunch and realized I've maybe gone too far if I've broken his nose. I looked up from the bloody mess that is Emmett's face, only to see the blazing eyes of my mystery woman. I had just enough time to note that they're are the color of a good scotch, a rich, dark auburn with hints of gold in the light, before she hit me straight in the face with her left hand and finished me off with a killer right cross. I felt my knees give out and my body hit the floor. I looked up from my place on the ground, feeling my left eye starting to swell. The beautiful, furious woman in big Storm Trooper stompin' boots was standing over me. I had just enough time to note that Alice was standing close behind her with her hand on her arm before she spoke.

"Touch my friends again, motherfucker, and I don't care how pretty that face of yours is, I will end you."

**Soooo, yeah….**

**Ok, now we gots some business to complete here. IMPORTANT: I will be doing teasers for reviews since I don't have like a blog or a thread anywhere and I'm not entirely sure how to go about that. So if you review, you'll get a sneak peak.**

**Also, I have made playlist for our band of miscreants and the links are on my profile. There are some songs on there that might offer some insight as to things to come, so I'd recommend checking them out.**

**I'm also on Twitter (who's not, these days?) and my name is alanaparrannnah if you want to follow me, I guess. You can ask questions or make suggestions or whatever you'd like.**

**Ummmm, I think that's it.**

**Sugar?**


	8. Chapter Six: War Drums

**Hallo everyone : ) Sorry for the wait, but this story is...complicated. There's a lot of research and revisions and careful wording that goes into getting a chapter out.**

**HUGE thanks to my betas, Ashlee and Chris--you ladies are fucking fabulous. Charmed ones forever : )**

**I own nothing except B's sneaky ninja skills.**

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_A jaw dropper_

_Looks good when he walks_

_He's the subject of their talk_

_He would be hard to chase but good to catch_

_And he could change the world with his hands behind his back_

-Adele

**EPOV**

_Jesus fucking Christ._

I opened my eyes to the absolute worst fucking headache I'd ever had. Felt like someone had tried to cleave my skull open with an ax or a claymore or something equally as terrifying and sharp. _Although, had they actually been wielding a claymore I think the bloody thing would've finished the job, eh? _

Giving my subconscious a swift kick in the arse for being such a cheeky bugger, I took stock of my surroundings. I seemed to be on a couch somewhere, and a comfortable one, at that. _Thank God for small favors, I guess._ A face swam into view, one I knew almost better than my own.

"Baby sis?" I croaked. Wait, why the fuck was I croaking? Back to the headache; where in the name of Blimey O'Riley's trousers had that come from? Hold the phone, where the hell was I? Deciding that I only really needed the one answer, I cleared my throat and spoke again.

"Baby sis, where in the name of Rolf Harris' Y-fronts am I?"

"You, my darling brother," she said, making _darling_ sound like an expletive instead of an endearment, "are in the manager's office at Water Rats. You know, the place where you punched Jasper in the face? He's fine, by the way," she added with a huff.

"Punched Jasper? Are you mad, woman? I didn't…" I trailed off as my memory came back. The bar, the mystery woman, Jasper's hand on Alice…

"Where is that sly Southern motherfucker? Imma kill 'im!" I sat up suddenly, wishing I hadn't. I felt my stomach revolt and managed to lean to the side before I was sick.

"What did I tell you, Fuckface?" a voice said out of the darkness. _Oh, God._ It was the International Woman of Mystery. She walked out from the shadowy corner by the door, tripping twice on the way over. Her face burned when she did, and I could see her annoyance, first at tripping and then at blushing.

Slowly, _very_ slowly, things started coming back. I'd walked into Water Rat's to find Jasper with his hands all over Alice—_breathe Cullen, just fucking breathe._ I believe I then proceeded to actually knock Jasper out, which, I had to admit, was a bit of an ego boost for me. And if that wasn't enough, when Emmett had hugged Alice in what I now realized was comfort, I overreacted as usual and hit him as well. And then…

Well, then the skies parted and my angel was revealed to me.

Now that I looked back on it, I could appreciate the fire in her eyes, the set of her mouth, the determination written on her features. She was truly glorious when roused, and I could only imagine what she would look like if roused with something _other_ than anger. _Whoa, steady there, Cullen. No need to get…erm…excited in front of the woman. Calm the fuck down, alright?_

I focused on the room again and realized that both Alice and Mystery Woman were staring at me, clearly waiting for an answer. _Fuck, fuck, what was the question? Oh, oh!_ "What did you tell me? Erm… 'Oh, Edward, what an amazingly gorgeous man you are, may I please shag you senseless?" I said, not wanting my memory to be true on this point. I couldn't believe I'd been duffed up by some girl. _Christ, what kind of pansy am I?_

"Try 'Touch my friends again, motherfucker, and I don't care how pretty that face of yours is, I will end you.' Now, how about you rethink that little plan of yours?"

Lord, I was in love.

Seriously, I was still feeling that sense of completeness even with her bitching me out. And she called me "pretty." More importantly, I liked it. I fucking _hated_ to be called pretty, by anyone. It had to be love, right? Although, her music was different now, the rumble of war drums and horns drowning out the simple melodies of harp and flute. It was almost more amazing than the first time I'd heard her.

"And you are…?" I said, willing to test my wits against this most beguiling woman, but only as equals. She knew who I was, but I had yet to have the pleasure of knowing her.

She looked me straight in the eyes, her face expressionless. Her eyes, though, held a hint of mischief. She liked that I wasn't intimidated. She wanted to play, too. "Guess."

"Look, I don't have the faintest idea what your name is and considering I have a headache the size of Prince Albert's prick, I don't really give a rats arse who you are, _kleiner Vogel._ Just don't fucking hit me again, yeah?" _Oh, nicely done, Cullen. Brilliant._ Why did I keep baiting her, when I really wanted to throw her down on this very comfortable couch and have my wicked way with her?

"Golden Boy, I will hit you as often as I see fit, and you'll like it, understood?" With that rather well aimed parting shot, she turned around and left the room. _You would like it, Cullen, you sick fuck. Point one for the mystery woman._

"'Golden Boy'? What does she mean by that?" I looked at Alice, bewildered.

She heaved a long suffering sigh and rested her head in her hand. "Your eyes, Masen, you fool. Why else would she say it?"

Ah. Yes. My stupid eyes.

My mother's family had two distinct traits, which she in turn passed to me. Bronze hair that obeyed no command save God's (and even then I had my doubts) and golden eyes. _Honestly, who has gold eyes?_ Not only did I have these reminders of my mother, but I somehow managed to be an exact clone of my father. So when I wanted to forget everything and blend in, those were always the things that prevented it. Especially after their death, when I had wanted to avoid all memory of them, I couldn't. Looking in the mirror brought it all back.

I stood up again, slowly this time, shaking off the thoughts of my parents. I was by no means over their deaths, but I had made peace with them.

I was shaking as I stood before Alice. _Is it cold in here? _

_Maybe it's the blood loss. _

_Only you didn't lose any blood, you fuckwit._

_Shut the fuck up, subconscious._

"Look, baby sis, I'm not sorry I hit Jasper. I am willing to listen to you, as long as your scary new friend isn't there. Tomorrow night? I'll even cook dinner." I smiled winningly at her, earning a slightly amused smirk in return. _And you're back in favor._

"Fine. Now get out of here. I need to go make sure Jasper's not concussed and Emmett's nose isn't broken."

I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and walked out of Water Rats. It was just past eleven, and London was out in force. It was a Saturday night, after all. The posh kids, the footballers, the bad boy yardies, the grime kids, pub crawlers, everyone was out en masse. Even if I didn't party with my sister tonight, I would always be able to find something to do.

I ambled down the street, hands shoved in my pockets and hood up, thinking about Alice's friend, whose name I still didn't fucking know. _Hmmm, what to call her…_ It'd have to be something good, if she was going to insist on calling me Golden Boy. What a stupid fucking unoriginal nickname.

I couldn't keep calling her "little bird," because I don't think she'd understood the German, and I really didn't know much else besides "where's the bathroom," "can I have a beer," and "are you single?"

Speaking of single, I wondered if the little bird was. She clearly wanted me, and I wasn't going to beat around the proverbial bush about how I felt, either. She'd give in eventually. I was fucking persistent, yeah?

I paused for a moment, listening to the streets around me. There were catcalls and whistles, the sounds of voices raised in laughter, music and mirth all around me.

_There's no place like London._

**BPOV**

_Holy heart attack, Batman._

_I just sucker punched Jaw Man._

_Who turned out to be Masen._

_Who is Alice's brother._

_Who is Edward._

_Who is Jasper and Emmett's best friend._

_WHAT HAVE I DONE?_

I walked around the store room at Water Rats for about ten minutes after I left whatshisface with Alice. Shit! I threatened him _again_. Fuck me, I wasn't going to win. I sighed heavily, trying to get myself under control.

Yes, punching him was bad and yes, I shouldn't have threatened him again, BUT, Jesus titty fucking Christ, I had never felt anything like it.

The second my fist connected with his face, it felt like I'd stuck my hand in a light socket. My whole arm…tingled? That's not a strong enough term. It was like someone had taken the carbonation out of a soda and put it in my bloodstream, then given it an electrical charge. I swear, I could've powered a city or a fleet of Priuses or something. I nearly picked him up and pinned him to the wall, but thought that might undermine the threat I had just made when I laid him out.

So I did what any self respecting girl in a foreign country who just met an amazingly gorgeous man she wanted to touch but had a steady boyfriend back home would do. I punched him in the face. It was like first grade, when you'd pull a boys hair and shove him down the slide because you liked him.

_Yeah. Sure._

I could still feel it, that strange energy, although it was fading. Part of me really wanted to go in there and touch him again so I could recharge.

The other part of me wanted to stay in here and fantasize about him. I hadn't thought Jaw Man could get hotter, but the second I looked him in the eyes, it was over.

They were gold.

They were the eyes of a hunter, or a bird of prey. They were warm and liquid as they looked at Alice. They were tepid on their way to frozen as they looked at Jasper and Emmett. They were dark and heavy as they looked at me.

Yet, there was a strange kind of openness in his eyes that made him seem less like a douche bag. He seemed…innocent. Not because I thought he was a monk or anything, because looking like he did that just wasn't fucking plausible. No, it was more that he had a sense of…naïveté about him. He had a positive outlook. He probably always believed that while things were bad, they would never reach terrible. Most likely, he only saw the best in things. That's what it was. I would bet my record player he was an optimist.

I wanted nothing more than to touch him, but at the same time I didn't want him to touch me. I wanted to bask in the glow of his electrical current, but I didn't want to be in the same room.

At the same time, though, something about him made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. There was something…devious about him. He had a secret. A huge secret, because he seemed more wary while talking to Alice.

When you're father is the chief of police, you learn a thing or two about lying, and how to spot it. I was hopeless at lying because I blushed like crazy. But I knew how to notice a lie, even if it was just lying by omission. He'd been tense, trying to look nonchalant, but failing. He was nervous, and he wanted to keep control over the situation, hence the subject changes and conversation steering. And he chewed his lip. I knew that was his tell, because it was mine to.

_I'm insane. Moving on._

Speaking of Alice, what the shit was I going to say? "Sorry I decked your brother, and by the way he's Jaw Man. You know, the one I'd love to fuck six ways from Sunday." That would be a negative, Ghost Rider.

I paced a little longer, really not wanting to go back inside and accidentally run into him. With my luck, I'd literally run into him and I think I did enough damage the first time I hit him. And the second. _Fuck, I'm just batting a thousand tonight. Way to be, Swan. Way to be._

"Eala?" Emmett's head poked around the door of my little hidey hole. He looked awful, his nose all puffy, with twists of paper stuck up each nostril and dark circles under his eyes.

"Oh, Em, your nose…" I said, my anger coming back. Who the fuck was this guy to come in and start beating up his best friends? _What the fuck, over?_

Emmett waved away my concerns, walking over to me and picking up my hands. He gently ran his thumbs over my knuckles, which were swollen and red.

"I have to say, Eala, I'm pretty proud of you. Where'd you learn to hit like that?"

"Jake taught me. I almost got mugged in high school and Jake said it would be best if I could at least do some damage." He nodded at this, clearly agreeing with Jake just as much as Billy and Charlie had. "He got me a heavy bag and hung it from a tree in the backyard. I worked with it every day. I can't walk over a flat surface without tripping, but I can throw a punch."

I sighed heavily, a bone deep weariness settling in. I still hadn't fully acclimated to the time change and my body was starting to let me know. After adding in the excitement from tonight, I was beat. I leaned against Emmett's shoulder, relaxing as he wrapped his arms around me. I exhaled loudly and sat up.

"I think I'm gonna go home, Em. It's been a long day." I stood up and ran my hands through my hair, the streaks of color mixing in with the brown. _Like me. I look good with the mundane, but don't really fit._ _Wow, maudlin much, B? Get home and sleep; you're getting loopy._

I walked into the room I had left Alice and Masen/Edward/Fuckface in to see that he had, in fact, left, though Alice had not, and Jasper was now stretched out on the couch, his lip swollen and split from where he'd bitten through it when he fell. Alice had pulled her chair close and held his hand in both of hers. They weren't speaking and yet I knew they were communicating. They were in tune with each other in a way I'd never thought possible.

I knocked lightly on the door frame to get their attention. Alice whipped her head around and Jasper cracked an eyelid, both relaxing slightly when they realized it was just me.

"Hey, Jazzy Jeff," I said softly, "how you holdin' up?"

"Well, Lady Bella, thanks to your mighty heroic actions, I do believe I will survive and make a full recovery. You have my most heartfelt appreciation, to be sure." He smiled his slow, sweet smile and I felt myself smiling in return.

I liked Jasper. He was intelligent, funny and most of all, a gentleman. You could hear it in his voice. He was respectful (probably another thing he learned from his mamma), kind, gentle and "Southern by the grace of God," as I'd heard him say earlier.

"Well, if you're okay, I think I'm gonna head home. It's been a very…exhausting day," I said, smiling slightly. _Exhausting, yes, but also exhilarating._ The Jaw Man mystery had at least kind of been solved.

"Do you remember how to get back to the Tube from here?" Alice asked, concern written plainly on her face. She clearly didn't want to leave Jasper's side, but she didn't want me to feel abandoned either. I put her mind at ease though, assuring her that I did know how to get back to the Tube and where to get off so I could get back to apartment. They offered to come with me, but I told them it wasn't necessary. I grabbed my jacket and my bag and headed out the door.

It wasn't that I didn't want to hang with the dynamic duo, because I did, just not right now. I wanted some time to clear my head, and figure out what this Jaw Man identity revelation meant.

I pulled my iPod out of my bag and popped in my headphones, scrolling through to my London playlist. I hit play and went back to my contemplations.

First of all, it meant I was probably going to be spending a lot of time with this guy. Pros: that might lead to more of the awesome electric charge, he was apparently into music so we had that in common, and I could spend hours just listening to him speak. Accents are my downfall. Now, the cons: The awesome electric charge. What the fuck was up with that? How was I supposed to concentrate on anything when there's some sort of crazy energy buzzing through my veins? Oh, and he's a cocky son of a bitch. Yeah.

I sighed and shook my head, knowing my cons arguments were way weak. _He's a cocky son of a bitch is the best I can come up with?_

Speaking of cocky sons of bitches…

I was pretty sure he was strolling down the street in front of me.

I jogged a little to catch up, intent on apologizing for my threats and excessive violence. He stopped suddenly though, and looked around for someone or something before turning down a narrow alley.

_What's this? Sneaking around London, are we?_ The stupid decision part of my brain was telling me that it would be a _great_ idea to follow him, while the rest of me was telling the stupid part to shut the hell up. Of course, the stupid part won out and I walked after him slowly, so as not to draw attention to myself. I turned up the music, wanting to have a legitimate excuse for "getting lost" if he caught me. I got distracted and stopped paying attention. Airfuckingtight alibi.

The warm orange of an electric guitar started weaving its way through my head, red pulsing in the background with the drums, deep purple wrapping itself around the orange and forming some sort of musical double helix. The lyrics started, adding a gritty burnt orange-red to the mix, encompassing all the separate parts in its warm glow.

_Homegrown. Rock to the rhythm and bop to the beat of the radio. You ain't got the slang but you got the face to play the role. You can play with me…_

I smiled at the appropriateness of the words. Blending in was my specialty. I may not sound like the locals, but I could mix in effortlessly if I kept my mouth shut. I kept Masen (Alice's name was sticking with me) in my line of sight, letting him walk on the other side of the street about twenty feet ahead of me.

The streets of London were crowded tonight and no one would notice one more girl walking down the road. Sometimes I amazed myself with my brilliant ideas. I wished he'd maybe worn something other than all black. I'd never seen a man so impeccably dressed in such casual clothes. He looked phenomenally hot, an Optimus Prime t-shirt thrown over a long sleeve Henley, black jeans, black boots, black hoodie. I wondered at the jacket a bit because England isn't exactly cool in June and he was already wearing long sleeves, but hey, to each his own.

_Pretty hair-do's and those lipstick kisses, blowin', yeah that's the right move. Make me feel like I'm the one who moves you, the only one you see…_

He lit a cigarette, a brief flicker of flame lighting his face, and I couldn't help but stare at the absolute perfection of his profile. _No man should look like that._ The sheer flawlessness of his features was enough to make Michelangelo's David jealous. The firelight limned his nose in gold, his bronze hair sparking in the light and mirroring the flame. His lips pursed as he inhaled, the cherried end of his smoke the only light now.

We stepped out onto a busy street, though I didn't know which one, and he started off toward what seemed to be a park. We were in a less populated part of town, the pedestrian foot traffic becoming scarcer. I thought my game was up for sure when he paused at the corner of the park to look around before venturing in. I ducked behind a car parked on the street and stood still for a minute before peeking over the top of the car. I could see dark shapes moving in the shadows, but couldn't make out if it was Masen or someone else, or both.

_What the hell was he doing in there? _The park was pitch black and deserted, the rustle of the trees swaying in the slight breeze the only sound to break the silence of the night. There were no lights, no clear paths, and the eeriness of the whole thing was getting to me.

_Now take it down, don't you let those tears quench the thirsty ground. Don't you be so scared that you can't make a sound, make a sound for me…_

I had almost given up hope of him coming out when I saw movement in the trees at the far end of the park. Masen stepped onto the sidewalk and looked around quickly before stuffing his hand deeply into his pockets and continuing down the street. I scrambled out from behind the car and hurried after him, making sure to look at the ground every once in a while so I didn't eat shit and blow my cover.

He seemed to be walking on autopilot, his attention focused inward and not on where he was going. He crossed the street and for a moment he was illuminated by a sign proclaiming its building to be Jury's Inn. The light glinted like sparks from his hair, and he ran his hand through it nervously before starting to twine his fingers in the ends, twisting the little curls at the base of his neck around his fingers over and over.

He picked up his pace, lengthening his strides and quickening his steps. I stumbled slightly, luckily managing to keep my feet and I kept following. I really wasn't sure what had possessed me to tail him, but I figured I couldn't give up now, especially after the mysterious trip into the park. He seemed to be becoming more anxious, checking over his shoulder every so often, making sure he wasn't followed. Thank God I was a woman, because while I'm sure he saw me, he didn't register me as a threat like he might have if a man was tailing him. I looked like some innocent girl walking down the street, minding my own business.

Ahead of me he turned the corner and I ran to catch up before casually turning the corner as well. I looked up at the street sign and saw that we'd been on Pentonville Road and had made our way to Upper St. As I took in my surroundings I immediately saw what he was heading for.

There was a Tube station up ahead, and he was angling toward it. A few people detached themselves from the crowd and ran over to him. One of these jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist before hugging him fiercely. He spun her around before placing her feet back on the pavement. More people were joining the group, everyone vying for a little bit of Masen's attention, an acknowledgement or greeting. With a jolt I realized that he was the center of the little group in more ways than one. He seemed to be the one they were waiting for, and now that he was here they were becoming exuberant. The group moved on down the road toward the station, Masen at its heart. The men looked at him with the envy of boys looking at the men they'd like to be, the women looked at him coyly, desire and want clear in their eyes. If he snapped his fingers, they would come running. He flirted with some, teased others and acknowledged all.

_All of London sings, 'cause England swings and they sure love the tales I bring. And those rainy days, they ain't so bad when you're the king, the king they want to be…_

They stumbled down the steps of the station, dancing and laughing, settling on the benches that lined the walls as they waited for the train. I huddled in the corner, trying to observe without being observed, and made a quick study of the group.

There were three women and three men besides Masen, all tall and beautiful. Two of the women were blonde, the other a brunette, and all had the striking, graceful features and long limbs of models. The men were all at least as tall as Masen and looked as if they'd all coordinated outfits as well. All seven of them wore black coats and boots, some in blue jeans, some in black, and one of the women in red. Belts and shirts added color here and there but mostly it looked as if they'd walked right out of a rock video shoot. All the glamour of rock 'n' roll with none of the soul. _Fake friends. Not a point in your favor, pal._

A train was pulling into the station and the group was rising to their feet, jostling with the other passengers to get closer to the edge of the platform. As it came to a halt and the doors opened, Masen paused for a moment and looked back in my direction. I ducked hurriedly behind a pillar, praying he didn't see me. I waited until I heard the train doors slide shut before I risked looking out again. I glanced at the schedule on the wall—this train was headed to Hackney Central station, and I made a mental note to google the neighborhood when I got home. I wanted to know what could possibly be drawing him away from the center of the city on a Saturday night.

I couldn't have given you any legitimate reason why I felt the need to know where he was going, especially since I wanted to know so badly I'd followed him all the way from Water Rats. Something just felt…_off_ about him.

Much to my surprise, I'd learned long ago that my instincts were usually spot-on, so my natural inclination had been to follow my gut. I tended to be very logical and took time to think things through, but those few times when my instincts told me to pay attention, I paid attention. I was second guessing myself, telling myself that I was crazy. He'd given me absolutely no reason to suspect him of anything. But I couldn't shake my uneasiness, even now that he was off to Hackney and I was here.

_Well, maybe I won't say anything yet. Other than disappearing into the park, he didn't do anything weird, and I'm sure that has a reasonable explanation._ I was glad I'd come to a decision, and felt like it was the best choice to keep it to myself. What would I say, anyway? _Hey, by the way, I totally followed Masen yesterday just because he felt "off." What, proof? No I don't have any proof. Oh, it's weird to follow someone without proof of wrongdoing? My bad, guys._

I checked the schedule again and saw that a train back to Hyde Park was arriving in five minutes. I sat down and settled in, waiting for the train that would take me home. I was tired again. My fatigue seemed to have disappeared as I followed Masen through the dark streets of London, but it was back now in full force. When the train arrived I shuffled my now heavy feet on board with the rest of the people, taking a seat and resting my head on the glass. I wanted to figure out more about Masen, and as much as being in the same room with him was going to pose problems, I knew the best way to get information out of him was to spend time with him. So I'd play the part. I'd be friendly. And I would get my answers.

_Homegrown. Rock to the rhythm and bop to the beat of the radio. You ain't got the slang but you have the face to play the role. You can play with me…_

_

* * *

_**Oooh...aaaah...suspense. **

**Any guesses as to whats up with Masen?**

**Reviews are better than Masen's accent : )  
**


	9. Chapter Seven: Sadistic Little Kitten

_She wakes up scared of getting old_

_She don't feel no shame _

_She knows so many pretty boys_

_And they are all the same_

_They said, "Oh hey there girl, tell me what do you do?"_

_She said. "Um, nothing, but I'm damn sure it's more than you."_

-Jet

**BPOV**

I woke up the next morning with that lovely fuzzy feeling on my tongue that told me I had neglected to brush my teeth before heading off to bed the night before. Apparently my little jaunt around London had sufficiently distracted me enough to forgo my normally fastidious oral hygiene routine.

I could hear Alice talking as I stumbled out into the hallway, feet dragging and eyes half open. The hard wood was cold, and as I looked down I realized I only had one sock on. I also realized that I didn't remember getting ready for bed last night, which explained why my Thundercats shirt was inside out and my Batman boxers were on backwards.

The light was getting brighter as I got closer to the kitchen and I let out some sort of strange groaning noise, my brain and eyes obviously objecting to the strain it was putting on my already impaired vision. I squinted and half covered my eyes with my hand, placing the other on the wall as I rounded the corner to the kitchen.

"The closest I get to cooking is popping the top on some Campbell's soup. I wouldn't even know what to do with a roast," Alice said. I wasn't sure why she was talking to herself about her inability to cook but my addled brain, stupid fucker that it was, raised my hand and pointed at myself, clearly trying to indicate that I knew what to do with a roast. I added a few "uuuggghs" and "aaaghs," to complete my eloquent statement and walked over to the fridge.

Alice cocked her eyebrow at me, silently indicating that while she understood that I wished to communicate with her, hand gestures and zombie moans would not do the trick.

"Roast," I croaked out. "I can cook a roast." I opened the refrigerator door and grabbed the carton of orange juice from the door. I unscrewed the cap and put the carton to my lips, taking long pulls of the delicious nectar. Belatedly, I realized that this was perhaps gross, and when I chanced a glance at Alice from the corner of my eye, the slightly aghast look now in residence upon her features informed me that I was correct in my assumption.

"Bella," she said exasperatedly, sounding very much like my mother, "I will overlook the heinous act you just committed by drinking straight from the carton if you are telling me the truth about being able to cook."

I lowered the carton, licking the drops of juice from my lips and attempting to look suitably abashed by my own behavior, but failing miserably because I just wasn't awake enough to feel emotion besides the general one of "what the fuck?" that I always had upon rejoining the land of the living first thing in the morning.

"Yes. I can cook," I said, rather proud of myself for actually forming a full sentence, albeit a rather short and uncomplicated one. I grabbed a glass and poured some juice, hoping Alice would notice my attempt at being a nice person and had just taken a huge gulp when I decided I no longer wanted to be a nice person for Alice.

"Well Masen, you're in luck. My "scary new friend," as you referred to her, happens to know how to cook. She has generously offered to help and says you should expect her in about a half hour and that Jasper and I should head over in a couple of hours. Have fun. Love you, brother!"

I spewed juice all over the fridge. That's how fucking surprised I was.

"Alice…" I said, still facing the fridge. "Please, PLEASE tell me I did not just hear what I think I did." I turned slowly, juice dripping down my chin and onto my shirt. Alice was standing on the other side of the counter, her gray eyes huge and oh-so-innocent as she smiled at me. And for the first time, I noticed she was holding a phone.

"Now, Bella…" she started hesitantly. I laughed disbelievingly, not really understanding what I'd just heard.

"No, no," I said, "don't start that 'Now, Bella' stuff with me, girlie. Did you honestly just volunteer me to cook? More importantly, did you honestly just volunteer me to cook with your BROTHER?" I shook my head and grabbed some paper towels from where they were sitting on the counter, wanting to busy myself with cleaning the juice off the fridge so she couldn't see how shaken up I was.

I couldn't be in the same room with this guy without wanting to simultaneously beat the crap out of him and throw him on the couch, rip his clothes off what I was sure was a delicious body and screw him six ways from Sunday. He infuriated me and excited me all at the same time. And it was terrifying.

"Bella," she said, sounding highly surprised, "do you not like him?" I let out a very unladylike snort, not really believing Alice was that dense. When I responded, I stayed facing the fridge in case my notoriously glass face gave away the fact that what I was saying was only half right.

"Alice, I knocked his ass out last night. And then threatened to do it again. So no, I don't like your brother." I put the juice back in the fridge, noticing that there seemed to be actual food in here and wondering when and how that happened. There were eggs in a bowl, a loaf of bread, some cheese…general food-type items. I would have to unpack my cookbooks later and see what I could do with this.

"But Bella, he wants to cook dinner for Jasper and I," she sighed dramatically, a huge pause splitting the sentence in just the right place for perfect pathetic-ness, "to make it up to us for knocking him out last night." I turned around. Well, crap. She had those big gray eyes of hers all glittery with tears and opened up all wide like fricking Bambi. Damnit, damnit, damnit.

I sighed, once again foiled by this devilish little pixie of a woman. You couldn't say "no" to that face. It was like killing a kitten.

A sadistic, manipulative, little kitten.

I almost did it anyway, though. Until I remembered a leeettle conversation I had with myself last night after I'd finished stalking his sexy ass. I believe it went something like "I wanted to figure out more about Masen, and as much as being in the same room with him was going to pose problems, I knew the best way to get information out of him was to spend time with him. So I'd play the part. I'd be friendly. And I would get my answers."

Oh yes, that was ringing a bell.

"You know," I started. The tears disappeared and that sadistic kitten perked right the fuck up, hearing me about to give in. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give him another chance. I mean, if he's willing to ease up on you two then I guess I can help out," I said, drawing it out to make it seem like I was really having to convince myself. Now who's manipulative?

"Oh, Bella!" She cried, clapping her hands together and squealing. I put my finger to my ear and wiggled it around, attempting to get my hearing back. "Go, go! Get dressed!" She pushed me in the direction of my room and pointed imperiously.

I got dressed, grabbing whatever was on top of the stacks of t-shirts and jeans and throwing on whichever shoes were closest. I looked in the mirror, noting that the top shirt was my Communist Party shirt. It was red, with the yellow Chinese star in the top left and the Hammer and Sickle next to it with double bars stretching horizontally across the shirt. It featured a lovely illustration of Lenin, Marx, Stalin, Castro and Mao-all holding those stereotypical red plastic Solo cups from every party, whether in the movies or real life, with Stalin and Lenin sporting party hats. Marx even had a lampshade on his head and was throwing up the horns. Communist _party_, see?

My jeans...well, they were clean, that's all I could say for them. They were meant to fit like guys jeans, and they had when I bought them...when I was fifteen. Let's just say I had gotten a bit more, uh, womanly since then. My ass filled them out now in a way no mans ever would, the denim stretched across it tightly, causing them to ride lower than originally intended. Slung so low on my hips, there was a small gap between the shirt and the pants when I moved, affording just the tiniest glimpse of some of my ink.

With my high top's laced, but not tied cause I just couldn't be bothered, I grabbed my white leather Elvis Presley bag I'd bought on my trip to Graceland. It was had this great picture of him with puckered, kissy lips on it, done in black and white. It was big enough to hold a notebook, which is good because I was taking mine with me. I had luckily thought ahead when planning my trip and had converted a few of my favorite recipes to metric and written them in my handy dandy notebook (yeah, I made that reference). I slung the bag over my shoulder as I walked to the kitchen. Alice was no where to be seen, but there was a piece of paper on the island.

_Bella-_

_I'm in the shower so I have plenty of time to get ready for dinner! Here's some money for groceries-make sure Masen pays you back! Here's the address for the local grocer and here's Masen's. Call me when you're ready for us!_

_-Scarlett_

_(ha fucking ha)_

I smiled at the signature, not at all ashamed to have been found out. Grabbing my duct tape wallet, I tucked the slip of paper into it, along with the cash, slipped it into my back pocket and headed out the door.


	10. Chapter Eight: Just Saying

Happy Holidays everyone :) If you would like to give me a super awesome present, leave me a comment.

Muah!

* * *

_I wish you'd stop ignoring me, because you're sending me to despair_

_Without a sound, yeah, you're calling me, and I don't think it's very fair _

_That your shoulders are frozen (cold as the night) _

_Oh but you're an explosion (you're dynamite)_

-Arctic Monkeys

**EPOV**

I woke at the crack of early afternoon, much to my dismay. I was hoping to have a rather nice lie-in, but I supposed noon was late enough. I rolled over onto my back, kicking wildly and awkwardly at the sheet that had somehow become wrapped round my legs before finally getting settled. What did I have to do today?

Dinner. With Alice. And…Jasper.

Oh, fuck me, this day was already going to shit.

…

"Fuck!" I cried as I dropped the bags of groceries I carried. Bloody hell, who knew a roast weighed so much?

Well, alright, so I hadn't just bought a roast. There were vegetables, spices, sauces, and all the ingredients I could possibly need. There were measuring cups and spoons, as well as a roasting pan in there. I'd even managed to unearth the cookbook Mum had sent with me when I'd first come over-when she apparently thought I'd actually be making real people food, so I'd know what to do with the plethora of things I had bought. Although, I had forgotten to write down exactly what it was I needed, so I had really just bought a lot of everything and crossed my fingers. I was a bachelor, alright? Did I look like I knew how to cook a roast? I'd lived on take-away and beer for the last four years, for God's sake.

I unlocked my front door successfully now that I wasn't carrying armloads of shopping and pushed the stupid bags into the hall with my foot. I shut the door and took off my jacket, hanging it up on the coat rack. I bent down and retrieved my groceries, hauling them off to the kitchen. As I set everything on the counter, I started to get worried. What if I fucked this up royally? I crossed my fingers. I supposed I'd bets start praying, as well.

For the next couple of hours I was a cooking madman. Slicing, dicing, boiling, stirring, and, most importantly, roasting. Which is why, when I finally pulled that fucking thing out of the goddamn oven, I almost cried.

It was burnt to a fucking crisp.

"FUCKING HELL!" I yelled, slamming my fists onto the counter top.

After much swearing, complaining and needless appliance abuse, I did the only thing I could.

I phoned Alice.

"Masen! I was just going to call you!" Alice's voice trilled through the speaker.

"Hey, baby sis," I said hesitantly. "So…about dinner…"

The silence was tangible. There was a slight pause as Alice took what I had said and jumped head first to the worst possible conclusion. I would've been more offended if I didn't have a very long and colourful history of fucking shit up.

"What about dinner?" she asked accusingly, whining like a disgruntled child.

"Masen, you better not be canceling because I will seriously hurt you. No joke. Better yet, I'll sic my new friend on you."

"No, no!" I assured her hurriedly, not wanting to incur the wrath of the International Woman of Mystery without properly earning it. "I'm still doing dinner. I just wanted to know if you maybe, well, if you know how to cook a roast?" I sounded pathetic, even to me. "Apparently I'm fucking tragic in the cooking department, seeing as I've managed to mangle the poor thing and burn it to a crisp."

There was more silence on the other end of the phone as Alice thought about it. She sighed loudly and I knew I was fucked.

"Masen, the closest I get to cooking is popping the top on some Campbell's soup. I wouldn't even know what to do with a roast."

As I watched all hope of proving to my sister that I was a fully-functioning human being fly out the window to taunt me, the muffled sound of my salvation came across the phone. Alice seemed to have set down the receiver and was now having a conversation with someone in which the words "yes," "cook," and "roast," all made an appearance. _Please, for the love of Christ, let this work out._

There was a shuffling sound and Alice came back to the phone. "Well, Masen, you're in luck. My "scary new friend," as you referred to her, happens to know how to cook. She has generously offered to help and says you should expect her in about a half hour and that Jasper and I should head over in a couple of hours. Have fun. Love you, brother!"

And with that chipper pronouncement of my impending doom, my baby sister hung up the phone.

I puttered around my apartment after that, getting more nervous by the second. I didn't want to admit it, but I was a little worried she'd hit me again. Not to say I thought I was going to give her any reason to do so, but still. Once a girl hands you your pride on a platter, it's a bit hard to think she won't do it again.

After getting my nerves under control, I set about tidying up the kitchen. I left the felled Who-Beast where it was, hoping to induce some sympathy from...the girl whose name I still didn't know.

Exactly a half hour later, there was a knock on my front door.

I checked my reflection in the hallway mirror yet again, hoping that I didn't look like a fucking wanker. I was loathe to admit it, but I was a very fastidious person, especially when it came to how I looked. I had to make the right impression here if I was ever going to get out of Scary New Friend's doghouse and into her pants.

I had finally decided on some black jeans, a dark green Henley and a t-shirt that read "Hold me" with a picture of a fermata underneath. What could I say? I was a band geek at heart. Not too douchebaggy, right?

There was a second, more persistent knock on the door and I hurried to answer it. Standing on the other side of the door was Scary New Friend. And she looked smokin'.

Her long legs were encased in a pair of what I assume were originally jeans, but they had so many holes and patches that they seemed to be more repair than actual denim. They were still tight on her legs and they let me have a few tantalizing glimpses of creamy white skin. Her shirt was...what? Was that Marx with a lampshade on his head? And Stalin and Lenin had plastic cups? What the bloody...oh! I suddenly realized what the rather amusing illustration on her shirt was-a Communist party. Dear God, she was smart, too. Save me.

What I had failed to notice right away was that she had on those damnable sunglasses again, but I as I looked up from her shirt, and what I realized belatedly must have seemed my unabashed staring at her chest, I saw that she had one eyebrow arched in confusion.

"Golden Boy," she said finally, "while I do appreciate the sheer, unadulterated lust your tactless ogling has made apparent, you really should close your mouth and let me in, yeah? We have work to do."

With that she stalked past me and into the apartment. Damn, her arse looks good in those pants. There was a tear right underneath it…I bet if she bent over just a little bit…I cut that thought off before it took me any further and looked back at the girl. She slipped off her ratty Converse, leaving them haphazardly strewn across the floor and walked toward the lounge. As I went to close the door, I noticed a group of bags in the hall.

"Longshanks?" Scary New Friend called from somewhere behind me. "Do me a favor and bring in the groceries. We have a roast to make." I groaned as I grabbed the shopping bags and hauled them inside. I really needed to learn her name so I could stop calling her Scary New Friend. And I really needed to stop staring at her arse every time she walked by.

I dropped the bags in the kitchen and walked into the living room to see Scary New Friend standing in front of my CDs, her head tilted sideways so she could read the titles. She bent over just a little and holy fucking Christ was that black lace? A very, very tiny edge of black lace was peeking out from the tear in her jeans. I dropped my gaze and squeezed my eyes shut, trying desperately to think of something, anything other than the lace. The Queen in her knickers, squids, Allan the postman, Alice, Mum, baby ducks…

When I finally had my imagination under control again, I opened my eyes to see a pair of feet standing in front of me. She had on one green sock and one orange sock, and that, more than anything else, helped to soothe the raging flow of hormones coursing through my system. That one thing made her a person again, and not just some woman I wanted to see in my bed. And dear Lord, her mismatched socks made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I loved the fact that she couldn't even pair up socks properly.

"Longshanks?" she said quietly. I lifted my head and met her gaze. I had to focus on listening to what she said and not just staring at her perfect mouth. And her eyes. Oh God, her eyes. Never had I seen so much raw emotion in one place. She had taken her shades off and her liquid chocolate eyes were staring into mine. There was curiosity in her gaze as well as contempt and distrust and…desire? No, surely I was imagining that.

She put her hand on my shoulder and shook me gently. "Hey. Wanna make that ridiculously complicated CD player work so we can get down to business? That roast isn't gonna cook itself." I murmured my acquiescence to fix the stereo and walked over, trying to get myself under control.

When she touched me it was like heaven. Every worry, every care I had, suddenly became less important. It was like I knew that with her by my side I'd figure everything out. It was nonsense, of course, because it just didn't work that way. No one person can fix everything. It's not humanly possible.

I popped open the CD player and felt her slip in beside me and put a disc in the tray. I closed it and grabbed the remote, heading to the kitchen. Scary New Friend had walked into the kitchen and over to the oven, where she now stood making a thorough examination of the carcass of the previous roast, God rest its soul.

"What have you done to it?" she said, cringing slightly as she poked it with the knife I'd left on the counter.

I opened my mouth to tell her it had fallen in the face of my almighty skills when it hit me: she wasn't using my name, which she knew. Deciding that was the more pertinent question, I decided to find out why. "Okay, question: why on earth do you keep calling me Longshanks?"

She giggled, a mischievous smile gracing her lips, making my heart beat just a touch faster and said, "Think about it. What's your name?"

"Erm, Edward?" I said, still not understanding the reference she obviously felt so clever in making. She was blushing again, something that made her frown for half a second, in what I felt was annoyance at doing so, before the smile was back in place.

"Right. Now, put them together…." She trailed off. I looked at her with confusion, but did as she said. "Edward….Longshanks? Wait, wait, Edward Longshanks? Seriously?" Holy Christ, she was a nerd! She truly was perfect. It was a well known fact that, while I was incredibly handsome and a clear favorite with the ladies, I was a huge geek at heart. For fuck's sake, I was wearing a fermata shirt. Exhibit A, anyone? So, the fact that this most beguiling and intriguing woman was not only wearing a Communist Party t-shirt, but she was also referring to me as a thirteenth century King of England was making me simultaneously want to hold onto her forever and bend her over the counter and shag her senseless.

"Sweet Lord. You, Madame, are perfection itself." The words were out of my mouth before I even realized what I was saying. I was rewarded with a look so full of disbelief and contempt that I was truly surprised I didn't fall over dead at that very moment.

"What I am is depraved for offering to help you with this. Now turn the music on while I get everything situated." With that, a mask dropped over her face, shading her looks and demeanor with cool indifference. I'd honestly thought we were making a go of this whole friends thing, but apparently I'd done something to seriously piss off Scary New Friend. And I still didn't know her fucking name. I walked over to the stereo and hit play before walking back to the kitchen to see her with her head in the fridge, bent at the waist and the lace peeking out again.

"Longshanks, you had best not be staring at my ass again. I won't hesitate to smack that smirk right off your face," she said, her voice slightly muffled but very serious. How the bloody hell did she know I was ogling again?

Suddenly, the music started and I knew I was screwed. It was like she could read my mind.

_Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove…_

She finished putting the other groceries away and pulled the the roast out of its bag and set it on the counter, the most beautiful and blissful smile on her face. She walked over to the island, her hips swaying in time to the music.

_Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing, gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting…_

She walked over to the bar stool where she'd put her...Elvis Presley bag...and pulled a large purple notebook out. She flipped through the pages while humming along, leaving me standing awkwardly off to the side in my own kitchen. She set the notebook on the counter and beckoned me over.

"Golden Boy, there is no need to feel awkward in your own kitchen. C'mere." She crooked her finger at me, narrowing her eyes as a smile played on her lips. "I don't bite, you know," she said, the smile going from innocent to, dare I say it, naughty in .6 seconds, before adding, "unless you ask very nicely, of course." She turned back to her notebook, which luckily gave me a brief moment to freak out over the slightly freaky side she just displayed. Which was definitely the good kind of freaky, not that _"I'm going to make you think its good and then stalk you and make a bubble gum shrine to you in the depths of my closet,"_ kind of freaky.

She turned back to me and gave me a smile so innocent _I _knew that _she _knew exactly what she had just done. "Turn the oven to two-twenty, please." Well-played, Madam. Well-played indeed.

_Damn my stupidity at wearing the super snug rock star jeans! _My pants were becoming rather uncomfortably tight at this point, so I took the opportunity she had just given me and readjusted myself before opening the oven prior to changing the temperature. The only thing I did remember about cooking was always check to make sure nothing was in the oven by accident before turning it on. When the monstrous heat that came pouring out of it hit the back of her legs, she let out a yelp.

"Why the hell is that oven so hot!" She cried, rushing over and slamming the door shut while I did nothing but stare at her, yet again. "No wonder the last one was a lava rock! What temperature did you put it on?" She asked, rounding on me, eyes again narrowed, but no longer in a way that made me want to pin her to the wall. More in the way that made me want to place my hands protectively over my squishy bits.

"Errrrrrrrrrrrmmm...I dunno? The highest it would go? It didn't have the right temperature on it," I said defensively. "Although, to be fair, shouldn't an oven have all the proper temperatures marked on it? I feel rather annoyed with the oven making industry at the moment..." I trailed off as I saw the look on her face. Apparently my tirade had only amused me.

She closed her eyes and pursed her lips for a moment, visibly getting control over her emotions, her chest rising and falling dramatically as she inhaled deeply. "What recipe were you using? Show me." Her tone brooked no argument so I ran to the other side of the kitchen and snatched up my cookbook, presenting it to her like it was a precious jewel, but making sure to keep the island between us just in case she was inclined to hurt me again.

She perused the cookbook for a moment before giving a rather un-ladylike snort and handing it back to me. "I seem to have found your problem, Longshanks." I looked at the pages of the cookbook, searching for the thing she had spotted so easily. But there was nothing. The recipe looked just as it always had, and I don't recall my mother ever burning things into lumps of charcoal.

"What? What did I do? I don't see anything wrong..." I said, frowning at the pages, as if that would somehow make my egregious error reveal itself to me.

She smiled at me and asked, not without sympathy, "Can you tell me how the temperature is measured in that cookbook?" I had the distinct feeling I was being mocked.

"Degrees, obviously...no?" As I said that she raised an eyebrow, giving me the 'Oh really, you think so?' look popular with females when you have made a very stupid and very obvious mistake.

"Try again, Golden Boy." I gave her a blank look, attempting to intimate that I had no idea what I could have possibly done wrong. Obviously. Because otherwise I wouldn't have done it. "I realize that," she said, and I realized I must have spoken out loud. Oops. "Alright, since you're not seeing it, I'll just have to tell you. The temperature?" She pointed at the spot on the page where it was written. "Is in Fahrenheit. The oven," she pointed, rather exaggeratedly I felt, to the oven, "Is in Celsius. Do you see, maybe, where we would have a problem?"

Oh, shit.

I looked up with realization written all over my face to see the girl giving me the sexy-cocked eyebrow look. Her eyes were glittering with what I thought was amusement. She liked this little game we were playing. Her cheeks were flushed and there was a smile playing at the corner of those cherry-coloured lips. "I see that the sheer stupidity of not realizing this has registered with you. Therefore we'll acknowledge it briefly and move on. Agreed?" The smile that had been hiding at the edges of her mouth came out now. Dear Lord, she could think I was the dimmest person on the face of the earth so long as it got her to smile at me some more.

She started to pull things out of her grocery bags one by one, and, lacking anything better to do I grabbed bowls, measuring cups and spoons and the ancient mixer I'd found, placing them all on the counter. I looked over at her notebook, trying to figure out what we were making exactly and noticed it looked complicated. Really complicated. So I said so.

She laughed prettily, gathering her hair up into a ponytail and tying it back with the elastic on her wrist. "It's not, I promise. Besides, you have me. There's nothing to worry about. Now, what we're going to make here is Horseradish crusted Prime Rib with Peppercorn Sauce. Side dishes will be potatoes Au gratin and green beans with pecans, and for dessert-peach cobbler!" She turned to smile at me, obviously looking for some affirmation that her menu was filled with excellent choices. I said nothing. Stupid, stupid Edward.

Her smile faltered as my silence continued, and so focused was I on her mouth that I didn't realize she had stopped speaking until it flattened into an angry, thin line.

"Is there something wrong with those? Or are you just naturally rude to people who are doing you a favor?" she spat at me, and as I looked up from her lips I saw that her eyes were glittering again, but with annoyance. Directed at me. It was like standing in front of a high-powered laser beam and just waiting for it to be unleashed and incinerate you.

I held my hands up, eyes wide with fear and horror. I couldn't afford to piss her off, even on accident. "No, no!" I said, trying to infuse it with some sense of truth. "It sounds lovely! I was just, um, processing. It's a rather large undertaking for someone lacking the necessary skills, such as myself. But," and here I drew myself up, trying to convince her, and really myself as well, that I had confidence, "I have confidence in confidence alone, and I am very, very confident in you. And also in my ability to not mess it up a second time. Let's carry on, shall we?" I smiled at her, putting all of my charm into it and hoping against hope it would do the job and keep her here.

She laughed, the sound of it like chimes in the breeze, all traces of annoyance and anger gone out of her. "Whatever you say, Fraulein Maria. Let's get crackin'."

She turned back to her notebook on the counter top, and inspired by her joviality, I stepped around from the other side of the island and joined her. I was still fantastically nervous but managed to contain it this time and let her take the reins as it were. She said that she would take care of getting the side dishes and sauce together, since they involved actual cooking, if I could manage the roast. She placed her hand on my arm at this point and said, very mockingly, with her eyes wide and full of sympathy, "If you need any help, Longshanks, I'm here for you. The first step is admitting that you have a problem. We can go from there." She smiled impishly up at me then and turned back to her work.

And so it began, my cooking education. Charged with the rather daunting task of creating what I was hoping was going to be a delicious entree, I set about my work with a single-minded intensity. As I began collecting the ingredients, I realized that much of my shopping and hers had overlapped. Clueless, I had just bought a lot of everything. She, obviously thinking I had no idea what I was doing, had bought the essentials, assuming I would be lacking the necessities. Now I seemed to have two or three of everything I needed.

I sidled in a bit closer to the girl-_I really do need to make a point of learning her name at some point, maybe I could ask Baby Sis?-_I inched my way closer to her on the pretense of reading instructions from her handy dandy notebook. And yes I went there. What I was actually doing was trying to figure out if that delicious smell I had just noticed was coming from her. It was messing about with my head. Most girls smell fruity and flowery. Honestly, what was the point of smelling like a million other girls out there? Just because you spent an ungodly amount of money on your scent didn't make you unique. Scent is very strongly tied to memory, and having girls all smell the same made it a bit confusing for us blokes. But this...this would be her scent forever.

Anyway, before every single information route in my brain got screwed right the fuck up, I was wondering if that smell was her. It was. Oh Lord, it was. Heady and teasing, it had none of that sickly sweetness I detested. Exotic and strong, yet subtle. Just like the woman wearing it. I breathed in deeply, tying this moment and that smell together forever in the banks of my memory, when I heard a very quiet "Ahem."

I opened my eyes; I didn't realize I had closed them. When I saw what was waiting for me, I immediately shut them again. Realizing that I didn't really know what I had seen and was only going on the assumption that her default mood around me was angry, I opened them again.

Blank-face. That was what I saw. She was giving me a complete and total blank face. For at least five seconds she did. Why? Ha, I'll tell you why. I'd caught her staring at me. Staringat me. More specifically, staring at my mouth, the heat in her gaze warming me from the now rather obvious bulge in my trousers to the tips of my fingers and toes. To make matters even worse, at that precise moment the tip of her tongue poked out and licked her lips, flicking across the two small hoops on the left side of her very pouty, very sexy bottom lip.

All of this could only mean one thing: she wanted me. At least, she very much wanted my lips, which I would most definitely take. As she looked up and noticed me noticing her noticing me-or noticing my lips, as it were. WHATEVER, she was looking at me, and that was all that bloody mattered. The sweetest, rosiest blush I had ever been fortunate enough to witness swept across her cheeks. Her fair skin was so translucent that I saw the exact moment she went from embarrassed to annoyed, just as she had when she tripped at Water Rats. So she didn't like this blushing business. Too fucking bad, because I did and I would now be doing everything I could to make her blush all the time.

Which was why I did one of the most incredibly inspired and mind-blowingly stupid things I had ever done. She looked up at me, her eyes the color of melted chocolate, her desire and embarrassment written plainly across her face. I stepped in front of her, too quickly for her to stop me, my socks slipping a little on the tile floor. After my near-miss, I placed my hands on the island on either side of her to get my bearings. My senses heightened in the moment's intensity, I did the only thing that seemed possible – I kissed her.

I didn't think, didn't plan, didn't calculate. I simply leaned forward, and did exactly what I had been dying to do since the day I saw her standing outside her building.

Quite frankly, it was the most amazing kiss I had ever had. And I have had quite a few. I started softly, not wanting to spook her, her full, tender lips unmoving against my own for a moment. Electricity was crackling along my skin, my heart thumping away in my chest as if I had just downed a pot of coffee and run a mile simultaneously. It all radiated from that single, wonderful point where her mouth joined mine.

Suddenly, that wild, strong, slightly dangerous woman came to the forefront and all at once her lips were responding, pressing against mine, that perfect blend of soft and hard. Her hands came up and grabbed the belt loops of my trousers, wrenching me forward so my body was pressed flush with hers. Her amazing breasts pressed firmly me as she slid her hand around my hips and into my back pockets, giving my arse a firm squeeze. Fuck me.

As soon as I had that rather obvious go-ahead, I grabbed her by the hips, picked her up and placed her on the counter, settling myself between her knees as I slid my hands under the hem of her shirt. Her mouth opened at that, a small gasp escaping her lips before she sucked my lower lip into her mouth, teasing it with her tongue before nibbling it as it slid out between her teeth. I growled deep in my throat, loving that she had unknowingly done my absolute favorite thing in the world. I slid my tongue past her lips, searching her mouth as her hands slid up and wove themselves into my hair.

I think it was right about then that I decided I wanted this to happen again and again and again. She let out a growl of her own, our tongues dueling fiercely as we fought for dominance and then she pulled my hair.

Yes. Please.

Taking this sign for what it was, a rather obvious indicator of how she liked things, I let one of my own hands leave their place on her back. I had unknowingly been digging my nails into her skin, although she obviously liked that sort of thing, and slid my hand up to that stupid ponytail, ripping the hair tie out and letting those long mahogany waves fall down her back.

I slid my hands into her hair, wrapping it around my fingers and tugging, using it to hold her exactly where I wanted her. She let out a little moan as I did so, and what sounded like a hissed "Yessss..." Just as I felt her wrap her legs around my thighs, her knees squeezing my hips and bringing me closer than I had allowed myself to be, a phone started ringing. I had to assume it was hers because mine did not sing X's "The Hungry Wolf."

_I am the hungry wolf and run endlessly with my mate/look across the street, my friend,we're waiting for you to slow down at daybreak/I roam, eyes in the back of my head/I roam, I roam..._

All of a sudden she stiffened, shoving me away from her just as suddenly as she had pulled me close, leaping off the counter and scrambling around to get her bag, where the sound was indeed coming from. She pulled her phone out and flipped it open, her face a dull red as she turned her back to me and started walking towards the balcony, saying, "Hey, baby," as she went. I could hear a very deep, very masculine voice answer back.

Fucking. Hell.

She had a boyfriend.

**BPOV**

As I stood on the balcony, I was only half-listening to Jake, paying just enough attention to carry on a conversation but leaving enough of my mind free to contemplate what the fuck had just happened inside.

Jesus. Christ.

I had had my fair share of kisses before. Let's face it, when I put my mind to it I was pretty smokin', and that whole don't give a fuck attitude that I just had naturally was apparently a really big turn on. I hadn't always been with Jake, and even when I was with him, we had taken a few breaks over the years. Sometimes I thought maybe that was a sign we should just call it quits, but I had never seriously enough to do something about it.

Jackass broke up with me two weeks before my senior prom. TWO. FUCKING. WEEKS. Now, I'm not really the prom type, but all my friends were going and there was no way it could fail to be a kick-ass time. So I was pretty stoked about it. Then, after a camping trip up the coast and a weird, tense weekend, Jake called and said, "I can't do this anymore. I have nothing left to give."

So, after a few days of sheer misery I picked myself up and decided to hell with it. I was still fucking going to prom. I hemmed and hawed for a while, trying to figure out the whole date scenario when a buddy of mine from my English class solved the problem for me.

Tyler was...well, he was a stunner, let's put it that way. Tall, powerfully built with broad, muscular shoulders and abs to die for. I'd always though him pretty cute but way out of my league. So when he showed up at my lunch table and said he'd heard I needed a date to prom, I jumped on that opportunity. Let the hottest guy in school take little old me to the prom? Hell yeah.

Well, in the weeks leading up to prom, something happened. I started hanging out with Tyler after school, kind of needing a replacement for the camaraderie I felt with Jake and his rough and rowdy crowd of fellas. Tyler lived in a huge house on the edge of town and his folks were never home. So I'd go over, watch movies, have dinner, shoot some pool, whatever. So as we were watching _Donnie Darko_ one night on the couch, I became aware of something.

I really wanted to jump Tyler's bones. Like really, really wanted to.

So I did.

I had never, ever been a bit impulsive when it came to men. I always looked before I leaped, so to speak. But I was tired of being scared and worrying about everyone else before worrying about myself. So one night while playing Super Smash Bros. on the N64 I kissed him. He was surprised at first but definitely didn't let that stop him.

For the next two weeks I had the best sex I had ever had, up to that point in my life. It was fun, mostly because I knew I shouldn't be doing it. That always added to the excitement. But then Jake started trying to get me back. And Tyler was a great friend as well as a lover, and tried to help me make the right choice. He said, "He's already done this twice, Bells. Who's to say he won't do it again?"

But, I still wanted to be with Jake, so here I was. Still with him.

Kissing another man.

FUCK.

**EPOV**

Because I was a rational and logical adult, I went back to what I was doing prior to the kiss-tastrophe as if nothing had happened.

Because I was also lying through my teeth to myself, I was freaking out.

I couldn't focus on anything besides what I just did. Holy shit. I kissed her. And it was SO GOOD. So fucking good. I never wanted to kiss anyone again. Ever. She had quite possibly ruined me for every other girl out there. I'd never felt my body respond to another person like it did to her. Obviously it had...uh..._responded_, so to speak, but never in a way that made me think I so desperately needed whoever it was responding to in that exact instant or I might actually perish right on the spot.

At that precise moment, I heard the sound of the sliding door to the balcony open. I looked up and saw the girl walk back in, her eyes downcast and apparently very interested in her mismatched socks. I said nothing, figuring it was best to let her decide how she wanted to proceed. She came back around the counter and did as I was, continuing what she was about before everything happened. Deciding this meant she needed her space, I went about my business, finishing up the roast and popping it in the oven.

I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, letting the loud brashness of the Arctic Monkeys fill my head as I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds coming from the kitchen. All the clanking and sizzling reminded me of the house in Chicago, sounding just like the noise my mother used to make as she puttered around the kitchen whilst cooking dinner every evening. It made me feel more at home in my apartment than I had in the entire time I'd lived there. It had always been just me, bumping around like a bumblebee in a bottle. Yes, Emmett and Jasper joined me on occasion, but if we were all together we usually went out. We never spent much time sitting about, gabbing like girls. We're men, you see.

I must have dozed off for a bit because before I knew it, there was a hand on my shoulder shaking me awake.

"Hwa?" I said, eyes half closed as I sat up from the rather undignified, slumped position I had been occupying on my couch.

I scrubbed my face with my hands, shaking my head to clear it of the post-snooze fog that was currently occupying it and praying to God I wasn't about to feel a string of drool to add to my undignified position. No drool. I was good.

As I stood and stretched, the hem of my shirt lifting up a bit as I leaned back to work the kinks from my spine, I heard a small "oh," which finally made me crack open an eyelid at the owner of the hand that had roused me from my slumber.

There was the girl, her eyes focused on the sliver of skin peeking from beneath the raised hem of my shirt. I will admit, I allowed myself a moment of self-satisfaction. _Thank you, Emmett, for dragging my arse to the gym._

I stretched a moment longer, telling myself that my back was still in kinks (I have already admitted that I am a liar, so there) before exhaling forcefully and opening my eyes.

I fixed the girl with a blank, innocent stare. "Yes?"

I was proud to say that it took her a few seconds to realize I was talking to her. I was not proud to say that when she looked up, her expression went from _"Mmm, yes, I could totally hit that,"_ in a rather sexual manner to, _"Mmm, yes, I could totally hit that,"_ in a rather violent, calculated manner. Oh, dear. She was angry with me again.

Although, for the record, she was phenomenally sexy when angry. Just saying.


	11. Chapter Nine: Pressure

_And you crashed into the city with a smile upon your face,_

_And a body charged with music from the earphones in your case,_

_The pressure keeps on growing but paradise,_

_Paradise is on its way_

-Paolo Nutini

****

BPOV

I was standing in Masen's living room, getting ready to calmly discuss with him the reason he kissed me when he stretched. A sliver of his extremely toned stomach appeared beneath the hem of his shirt, just enough to give me a peek at the trail of copper colored hairs that led to the land of plenty, and believe me, it was PLENTY. I most definitely felt that pressing up against me when we were...uh...yeah.

Something flared hot and fast deep down inside me. I could feel my hands balling into fists, my nails digging into my palm, and my jaw clenching with...what? What was making me react like this? I thought about it for a few seconds, not really knowing. Then I thought back to all of the romance novels I'd ever read, you know the ones-sold in airport bookstores for all the middle aged women flying to see their children and grandchilfren, who have never had a satisfying experience in their life. Kind of like me.

What I was feeling was desire. Pure, unadulturated desire. I wanted this man in front of me. Not in a mental, emotional way. Not like I wanted Jake. This was a burning, rip-his-clothes-off-and-make-him-scream-my-name type of attraction.

And then the sonofabitch smirked.

Suddenly, things changed. No longer was I desirous of him and his delicious body. Now I was pissed.  
Anger was something I was familiar with. It was a daily part of my life, something that lived in the back of my head that only rarely got the chance to come forward and surge through my blood, making my fingers tingle just like they did after a big drag off a cigarette. I liked it. And I didn't.

I didn't like it because I really had no legitimate excuse to be angry. Which made me angrier, but more at myself this time as opposed to the gorgeous, annoying man standing in front of me. Not that I was going to let him in on that little revelation.

I liked it because it made things interesting. Angry Bella could go one of two ways: fiesty and fun or scary and no fun.

"Yes?" he said, his eyebrow slightly cocked over a barely opened eye. Bastard. He so knows what I'm thinking.

I changed my mind. I didn't want to know what he'd been thinking. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible, as quickly as possible. Why? Still not entirely sure. But I did.

"The roast is in the oven. The sauce is finished, it just needs to be heated slightly and poured into the serving dish when you intend to serve the roast. Its going to take an hour and a half to cook, so you have time. The sides are made and will take 20 minutes, which is exactly the time the roast needs to sit before slicing. Call Alice when you pull it out of the oven."

As I finished my rant on proper roast preparation, I turned and left him with a slightly confused look on his face.

That would teach him to kiss me. Jerk.

I grabbed my bag off the chair and reached down and hooked my fingers in my Chucks on my way out the door. Which I may or may not have slammed behind me as I left.

As I stomped down the hall to the elevator my phone started to ring. I pulled it out of my back pocket where I had stashed it after I talked to Jake, and answered as I jammed the down button on the wall.

"Hello?" I said rather tersely into the phone. I was hopping up and down on one foot while trying to put my shoe on. I was an awesome multitasker.

"Bella!" Cried Alice over the phone, sounding ridiculously happy about something.

"Hey, Al," I said, trying not to sound as pissed and confused as I was. She hadn't made me feel like this so I shouldn't take it out on her.

"So, how much food do you have over there?" Apparently there wasn't going to be any "Hi, how are you's?" in this conversation.

"Ummmm," I said, now hopping up and down on the other foot. "Like a shitton. And yes, that's an accurate unit of measurement."

"Good! Cause Emmett just called and I invited him for dinner, since Masen also hit him. So its a party! Do you want me to bring you a change of clothes or are you coming home first?"

What. The. Fuck. Did she just say...?

"Well, Scarlett, I wasn't really planning on staying and eating...I thought I'd just, you know, cook and leave since this was a whole apology dinner thing, and I did the hitting. I mean, its not like he could forget. He has a very swollen nose and he's sporting one hell of a black eye..."

Which was actually sexy as all hell now that I think back on it. There's something intriguing about men who have wounds that are so very obviously from fighting.

"Bella, you have to eat with us! You cooked!"

Jesus, how long was this elevator gonna take? I took a deep breath and bent down to tie my shoes.

"Look, girlie, I appreciate it, I do, but I don't want impose or anything." Well said, B, very well said. Kudos.

"Bella, if you're worried that this is going to be awkward and coupley you don't need to. Emmett is coming too, remember?" I could almost see her smiling in that smug way she has when she correctly interprets your excuse and gets rid of it.

Fuck.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" I said, standing up and staring at the elevator doors.

"Not a snowflake's chance in hell!" Damn she was cheery.

"Well, alright then," I said as I heard the elevator ding. "Let me come home and shower. Then we can head over." I sighed, resigning myself to how my evening was playing out. "At least this way I know everything will be done correctly."

"Yay! See you soon!" She cried and hung up the phone. The elevator doors opened and I walked in.  
Fuck.

* * *

"ALICE!" I yelled from the living room.

"WHAT?!" She yelled back from her room.

"We don't have any liquor!" I was staring at the very, very empty liquor cabinet in the new bar that had shown up in the corner of the living room in the time I was gone. Since me getting ready took all of forty minutes, I was now showered and dressed in an Alice approved outfit consisting of a sheer, cream colored blouse over my lone silk tank top, which just happened to be a very pretty emerald color. My super dark, super skinny Levi's with the zippers at the ankles and my black, sequin encrusted five inch heels completed the outfit.

The top showed off my figure quite nicely if I did say so myself, and I did, and the jeans and shoes made my legs look about a million miles long. Plus, you could see hints of ink all over my torso through the shirt. It was like a burlesque show—sexy because it was all about the illusion of naked flesh.

I heard Alice's heels click down the wooden hallway. She was coming to investigate.

I turned around and gasped. Alice looked stunning. She was classically outfitted tonight, a light brown tweed pencil skirt hugging her curves in the sweet yet seductive way, while a sky blue linen blouse with flutter sleeves made her skin look like porcelain and her gray eyes twinkle. Brown t-strap heels complete the look, and made her about four inches taller, which was a little weird.

"Really, Bella," she said,her hands were on her hips, a stern look upon her face. She was shaking her head at me, which is when I realized that her hair was only half done and she wasn't wearing any makeup yet. Ah. Hence the exasperation.

"There's wine in there. Have some of that if you really need to right this second. But not the green bottle! That's for tonight." She started to walk away, presumably to go finish getting ready, but I stopped her when I pointed out that wine was not liquor. It was wine. Duh.

"Alice, I hate wine. Like, seriously. Its gross."

Que the slow motion turn. When she faced me again she looked shocked and a little horrified. "What. Did. You. Say?" Her speech was halting, as if she was really trying to believe that's what she had heard and was failing.

"Wine. Is. Gross." I said, matching her tone. I thought I had been phenomenally clear when I said it the first time.

She sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Bella, what kind of girl are you? You don't like wine? That's against the code!"

"What code?" I asked, looking at her like she was crazy. "The pirates code? Cause that's more guidelines than actual rules, if you remember correctly." That got a small half smile out of her, before the look of consternation came back. "Besides, I'm a terrible girl. We've had this conversation."

"I don't know what code!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "The one that states all girls like wine!"

I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows, giving her a look before saying, "Seriously? I'm pretty sure I have a neon sign above my head, blinking "Not all girls" with a big arrow pointing at me."

"Oh, alright," she conceded. "So you're not at all like every other girl. There's a liquor store down the street. Go get what you need, crazy lady. I need to finish getting ready!" She blew me a kiss as she walked back down the hall. I just shook my head and grabbed my purse, which had been borrowed from Alice. She insisted that my Elvis bag, while cool, was a terrible purse. I was now sporting a red one with chain straps and stud details. I was very much in love.

I walked out the door and grabbed the elevator, which didn't seem to take nearly as long to get to me as it had at Masen's. As I stepped out into the fading sunlight I put my shades on and started towards the supposed liquor store. Although it wasn't really a liquor store in the way I thought of them. It was a tiny shop that sold all kinds of things.

As I walked in and took off my glasses, hooking them in the front of my shirt as per usual, I noticed that the guy behind the counter was delicious.

He was at least six foot two, if not taller. Broad shoulders made his white Hanes v-neck look damn good, and his shaggy blond hair drew attention to his electric blue eyes every time it fell into them. I could only see his head and shoulders because of the tall shelves between us, but what an amazing view it was. He looked up and caught me staring. I could feel myself blushing but couldn't seem to look shot a quick flash of brilliant white teeth and a wink my way before he continued on with ringing up the man in front of him.

I wandered down the aisle, glancing at the contents of the shelves, dragging my fingers across the boxes and bags and bottles as I walked by them . I know I shouldn't be using liquid courage to get through this dinner, but Masen made me nervous. And since my storm out this afternoon after the kiss was going to be completely cancelled out by me coming back for dinner, I needed all the help I could get.

I glanced up to see Mr. V-Neck watching me as I perused the wares of his shop. I stared back, surprising myself with my boldness. I never did this. Although, granted, I wasn't used to having someone stare at me, either. When I went places back home, chances were I was with Jake. And him being the big son of a gun that he is, he intimidated most people.

"Can I help ye?" He called out to me.

Holy. Shit. Homeboy was Scottish. I was offically in trouble. Why? Because I love accents. Seriously. And while Masen's accent was delicious, I had a soft spot for a Scots accent. So not only was he nice to look at, he was great to listen to.

"Yes, actually. Where can I find the Jack?" I saw his eyes widen as I spoke. Oh that's right. I'm the one with an out of place accent here.

"Aye, hen, its just in front of you. So then-You're an American?" He ran his hand through his hair to push back the stray locks falling in his eyes.

Holy. Shit. His forearm was covered in a huge, colorful tattoo that ran up and over his bicep, disappearing under his sleeve.

I glanced down and saw that had I not been staring at him, and his newly revelaed ink, I would've noticed my old friend Mr. Daniels staring me in the face. I grabbed a fifth and walked towards the register.

"Yes, I am. And you're Scottish, yes? From...I'm not sure. But not Edinburgh."

He smiled at me, his blue eyes twinkling. "Ye're right, I'm not. I'm from Paisley. How'd ye know?"

I blushed again and looked away. Time to think of an excuse so I didn't have to explain that my dream man was a fictional Highland warrior from the eighteenth century. "I spent one summer showing a Glaswegian around California. I recognize a highlander when I hear one."

He nodded, the "ah, I see," look on his face. He reached across the counter towards me, pulling the bottle back to him so he could ring me up. I noticed then that both his arms were inked, the one I had seen earlier turning out to be all different kinds of flowers snaking their way up his arm, the other side seemed to be a large Celtic knot bird of some kind-all I could see of it was the tail feathers curling down to the inside of his elbow.

"So, what are ye doin' here, if you don' mind my askin'? Yer a long way from home, are ye no?" Smile, smile, stare, stare. Damn, he was fine.

"Uh...I'm..." I started, desperately trying to remember what the hell I was doing here. He was making my brain stop working. "Oh! I'm an exchange student. I'm here for a year studying at Kingston." Yes, that's what I was doing. Take that, slow brain!

"Beautiful an' intelligent? Seems you American girls are just the complete package." He rolled his 'r's' on the word girls, making it sound more like gerrrils. Dear Lord.

I knew he was probably thickening up the accent because I so obviously enjoyed it, but I really didn't mind. I could listen to this man read the damn phone book and be happy about it.

Not knowing how to respond to something like that I just smiled and looked down. When in doubt, smile.

"So what's your name, hen? Or are ye gon ta walk out on me and leave me wonderin'?" He smiled at me and took the money I seemed to have dug out.

"Bella. I'm-I'm Bella." I stuck my hand out awkwardly across the counter. He shook it and put my change in it.

"Well, my name is Jamie, and it was a pleasure to meet you, Bella." He smiled and held my hand a little longer than was normally polite, but I so didn't mind. With a final squeeze he let me go and I turned and walked towards the door.

"Bella!" He called behind me.

I turned to look over my shoulder. "Yes?"

"Do you like music?" I just looked at him, not fully understanding the question because I was lost in the muscles showing through his tight shirt. He blushed and looked away briefly before meeting my eyes again. "I only ask because my mates and I are playing tomorrow and weel, I'd love ta see ye again."

"I love music. Where and when?"

"Its a little place called Barfly in Camden. We go on at eight."

I made a mental note of the name while looking over my shoulder at him. I smiled what I felt must be a flirty smile, although I had no way of knowing, having never done it before, and slipped my sunglasses on.

"See you there, handsome," I said and walked out the door.

* * *

As I walked back to the apartment, I felt like I had a little strut going on. He thought I was attractive. He made it obvious. A super hot guy thought I was hot.

Weird. But it was such a confidence boost. I do my best to come off confident and self assured, but when it comes to how I feel about myself...I'm the cute one. Not the hot one, not the bombshell, the cute one.

I got in the elevator and headed up to our floor, thinking about Mr. Delicious. When the elevator stopped, I was so lost in my thoughts I automatically started walking out, thinking I had reached my floor, only to run straight into Jasper.

"Whoa! Easy there, Lady Bella!" He said, his hands on my shoulders steadying me.

"Sorry, Jasper! I didn't see you there!" I blushed, realizing that I had stopped on Jasper's floor and not mine.

He joined me in the elevator and hit the button for my floor. I stood there with my sunglasses still on, clutching my brown paper bag. I felt like some freshman trying to sneak liquor into my dorm in front of the RA.

"Whatcha got in the bag, girl?" Jasper said in the slow, Southern drawl of his. "The way you're clutchin' at it, why, it looks like it must be elixir of youth or something." He smiled at me, all mischievous.

"Oh, this?" I said, feigning innocence and waving the bottle like it was nothing. "Just an old friend of mine. He's my date, you see." I winked at him.

He cocked his eyebrow and gave me an inquiring look, his eyes twinkling. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. He gallantly ushered me out and followed me down the hall.

"Your date, hmm? And I do I get to meet this gentleman? Or will you be keeping me in the dark?" I slowed down to pull my keys out of my bag, tucking Jack under my arm for safe keeping.

I opened the door and tossed my keys on the table Alice had put in the hall for just that reason. Walking down the hall I told Jasper over my shoulder, "Follow me, Rhett, and I'll make the introductions. ALICE! I'M HOME! AND YOUR LOVERBOY IS HERE TOO!" I called out, wanting to make sure she knew so I didn't get in trouble if she accidentally came out with her hair in rollers or something. Not that Alice would EVER do something like that, but hey. I figured there was no use risking it if I could cover my ass.

I walked into the living room and over to the bar, my heels clicking on the hard wood. Something about me loves the sound of high heels on a hard surface. It makes me feel girly to hear that 'click-click-click' sound as I walk. Plus, I know my ass looks fabulous when I wear heels so big confidence boost right there. Because, lets face it, if they didn't make our asses look as good as they do, we wouldn't wear the damn things.

I set the bottle down on the bar and walked around to the back side, pulling out a couple of shot glasses and setting them on the shiny, dark wood top of the bar. Jasper had come over and propped his elbows on the bar, arms crossed and leaning forward.

"Now, Lady, who is this mysterious fella I am to meet?" He smiled slowly, and it struck me again how damn good looking he was. Alice sure was lucky. My mind flashed to Jamie the Scotsman and I felt a smile spread across my own face. Jasper thought it was in answer to his and he laughed and nodded his head at me in a silent salute. Oh well. He didn't need to know.

I pulled the paper bag to me and slowly slid it down the bottle before removing it all together and tucking it behind the bar.

"Ta-da!" I said, doing the Vanna White hands. "Jasper, meet Jack. Jack," I said, addressing the bottle, "this is Jasper."

Jasper laughed and gave the bottle a long look. "Why, Bella, Jack here didn't tell me you two knew each other." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "You see," he said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper, "he and I go back a long ways and have had many adventures and long nights."

I laughed and broke the seal on the bottle, unscrewing the lid before pouring two perfect shots. Setting the bottle down and replacing the lid, I slid Jasper's to him before picking mine up.

"To fortunate meetings and new-found friends." I said, raising my glass to him with a smile on my face. He toasted me, our glasses making that delightful clink sound.

"To a lovely Lady with excellent taste," he said, the smile on his face matching the mischievous glint in his eye. I laughed, saluting him with my drink before tossing it back, setting the glass down on the bar top again, laughing at the wide-eyed surprise on Jasper's face. I always got that reaction when I proved I took shots like a bamf. What could I say? I was just a bad ass like that.

I poured myself another, motioning with the bottle to see if my new-found drinking buddy would like another. He pushed his glass closer to me in a silent 'yes' and I filled it up. We clinked again and threw them back.

"Now, Bella, if I may be so bold as to inquire as to why it was imperative for you to go and pick up our old friend before dinner? Cause the way you're carryin' on it looks like you're fixin' ta get good and liquored up tonight if things go badly." He gave the bottle a friendly pat, acknowledging our shared acquaintance, and gave me a wink as a sign of knowing what I was up to.

I groaned and put my head in my hands. Just thinking about the whole incident made me uncomfortable.

"Masen. Masen is the reason I needed a couple shots of Jack before dinner." I looked up at Jasper with my chin resting in my hands still. To my surprise, he threw his head back and laughed. I gave him an inquiring eyebrow quirk and as he wiped his eyes he started to explain.

"Bella, Masen is the reason a LOT of us need a couple shots before dinner." He continued to chuckle, his laughter slowly fading away but a small smile lingered on his face. I gave him the stink eye. I didn't think it was that funny.

He saw my laser gaze and shrugged his shoulders. "What did he do, if you don't mind me asking?"

Sighing, I reached under the bar and got a rocks glass, pouring myself a drink to sip more slowly as I prepared to relate the afternoon fiasco to Jasper.

I sipped my whiskey slowly, letting the familiar warmth travel down my throat to curl into a small ball of heat in my stomach, feeling it radiate outward to my limbs. I sighed and looked Jasper directly in the eyes.

"Motherfucker kissed me."

Que Jazzy Jeff spewing his Jack all over the bar.  
"That sly son of a bitch," he said.

"MY BROTHER DID WHAT?!"

Jasper and I looked up and saw a very beautiful, very irate Alice standing in the doorway.

Oh shit.


End file.
